rhodesian ridgeblog

Lela's puppies

2010-05-08T10:59:00.001-07:00

Saturday 8th May.

I am very aware I have not mentioned Lela's puppies in recent days and I guess It is because they are just quietly getting on with growing and giving me no reason to be concerned about them. They have reached a milestone today in that they are 2 weeks old. They are big puppies, not far behind in weight with Motsi's but I expect that to be the case in these early days as there are less of them and they can capitolise on Lela's abundant milk supply.. This afternoon I have wormed both pups and Lela and they have had their nails trimmed again. They really do just eat and sleep which is why It is so difficult to capture interesting photo's of them.

I will try and get more photo's when they are awake and a little more active.

Motsi's puppies.

2010-05-07T10:15:00.000-07:00

Friday 7th may.

Mots's puppies are totally scrumptious and a joy to be with. They are very responsive with us now and last night Olivia and I spent all evening in the box playing with them. I am very pleased that they are all very similar in type. Yes Lincoln and Porsche are lighter but they all have beautiful strong heads and I love this.

I introduced them to milk this morning and as expected It was a very messy affair but they did attempt to lap and that was all I expected of them. Motsi was the main beneficiary of the milk but It wont be long before they go crazy for It.

Sadly the weather has turned cooler and Sunday is expected to be quite cold so I have delayed moving the pups out to the mud room. Our living room is quite pongy in the morning, but who cares, we certainly don't.

Motsi's puppies.

2010-05-05T09:23:00.001-07:00

Wednesday 5th May.

Motsi's puppies are enjoying their introduction to solid food. I always start the pups on raw beef as It easy for them to eat, is relatively mess free and I feel It gives their gut a good intro to solid food and they love It. I always love that first moment when they are offered that first little bit of meat. At first they spit It out as they don't quite know what to with It but then, when they get the taste and smell of It, they go crazy and It is amazing just how much they can consume. This is the start of less demand for Motsi and boy does she know this. Ruby, her grandma was always the best of mothers but she was always happy to relinquish the responsibility of feeding to me. I suspect Motsi is going to be the same.

My only concern and It is a very small one, is Bently. He is a little smaller than the rest of the puppies so I am very mindful of his progress. I actually put him in Lela's box on Monday night for a while and even though she was very good and let him feed from her, she would not clean up after him. The fact he had just been wormed and started on meat I am sure, had something to do with It but I did not leave him with Lela for long. This morning he was reluctant to eat meat even though I kept putting It into his mouth. He reminds me of a Kasidi/Raiza puppy from a few years back. His name was Kodak and he really fell behind his littermates and for a while I was supplementing his intake. He continued to be small up until 8 weeks or so. He went to live in Canada with a lovely family and only last week I received amazing photo's of him in the mountains, in deep snow, while his family were skiing. He has matured into a really beautiful dark red very big boy. A lesson to us all that genetics determines the final outcome of how the dog develops, providing of course he is well fed.

Lela's puppies

2010-05-05T08:58:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 5th May.

I am a creature of habit and I love my routines, this passes on to the dogs and every morning from, anytime after 08.30 they are agitating for their walk. Since the puppies I have had to adjust my routine to accommodate Lela and Motsi as they are ready for a big breakfast in the morning and they cannot go for a long walk on a full stomach. Our new walk time is around 10ish and the other dogs are not too happy with this new arrangement.

I still cannot believe Lela's puppies are not yet 2 weeks old, they remain very quiet, feed well and are gaining weight nicely. My daughter cut their nails yesterday and made new identity collars for them. There really is nothing else to say about them and I am looking forward to when they are up on their feet more. There eyes are opened which always changes their appearance and makes them look more dog like.

Lela's puppies

2010-05-02T10:54:00.000-07:00

Sunday 2nd May.

Lela is much more comfortable about leaving her puppies now and looks forward to the walk in the morning. She disgraced herself today by rolling in something truly disgusting and was quite puzzled when I wouldn't let her into her lovely clean box with fresh smelling sheepskin. She was promptly hosed down. I love my dogs to bits but their fascination for all things putrid, whether they ingest It or roll in It is sometimes hard to tolerate.

I clean the boxes twice daily and wash the sheepskins so I am quite grateful the weather is much warmer as they can be put on the line to dry.

Lela's puppies are easy peasy, the smaller litter size makes a huge difference to both me and Lela. I never have to worry about there being few teats for the pups and the load is easier on Lela too.

There nails have grown incredibly in just one week so they will be cut this afternoon.

The picture today is of Elijah, a lovely boy who I think is going to be very similar to the 2 boys from Lela's litter last year, Murray and Cadbury.

Motsi's puppies.

2010-05-02T08:45:00.000-07:00

Sunday 2nd may.

The last few days have been very busy, Mark back from Europe, my son back from Uni, acres of grass screaming to be cut etc etc, 8 dogs to look after and of course the pups.

Motsi's puppies have taken a huge leap in terms of their development, they can stand, their eyes are fully opened, they are making funny little growling sounds and they are beginning to hear. We put them outside with their mum for a short while yesterday, something which I will do increasingly now the warmer weather is here.

Today they will be wormed and tomorrow I will start introducing them to raw ground beef. Motsi is not a big bitch and although I am feeding her copious amounts of food the demands of feeding 10 puppies is now taking Its toll on her. This is the peak of milk output for Motsi. I am pleased to say she is happy to leave the box for longer periods of time now and the puppies can go a good few hours between feeds.

I am very happy that Motsi and Lela have continued their good relationship while they both have puppies. They are very laid back with each other and they share a natural curiosity for each others babies.

We have 2 puppies in Motsi's litter that are almost identical twins. They are Porsche and Lincoln and they are the 2 lighter wheaten pups . What is interesting is, they tend to hang out with each other too.I know we all have our preferences but I am drawn to these two puppies. Of course It is silly to start looking seriously at the pups at this stage but they are very eye catching.

They still spend much of their time sleeping and eating with small periods of wakefulness in between.

My copy of the Ridgeback Register arrived on Friday and I would recommend this quarterly magazine to everyone. In this spring edition there was a very interesting article on dewclaws and whether they should be removed. Back home we have never, as a rule removed them, infact this issue had never been brought to my attention until we moved here to the US. The conclusion was that the US is the only country in the world that routinely removes them but some big kennels are now leaving well alone. To quote Dennis Boyd from Ireland,'If over the millennia nature saw fit to retain dewclaws on canines," he muses" then is not arrogant of humans to think they know better"?

People who know me will know I am against any part of a dog being removed, be It tail docking, clipping of ears or removal of dewclaws. Using my own dogs as an example and my dogs run for miles everyday through sometimes rough terrain, I have never had an injury to their tail or dewclaw and I am in my 25th year of keeping Ridgebacks. The only recurring injury in my pack is torn toe nails.

Lela's puppies

2010-04-28T11:08:00.001-07:00

Wednesday 28th April.

I can't believe Lela's puppies are only 5 days old. They remain very quiet, are gaining weight nicely and giving no cause for concern. I have removed Adam and Eves collars as they are easily identifiable by their white feet.

I plonked adam on the scales this morning and he is already over 2 pounds in weight. I also had to renew the collars of the other pups as they had outgrown them.

Motsi is very interested in Lela's puppies and frequently goes over to her box for a sniff. Lela, although a little guarded tolerates It and gets more tolerant with each passing day.

Buttons and Noah are very interested in the puppies, It is always the case with the younger dogs and I like to encourage this. They won't know whats hit them in a months time when they are being terrorised by 16 mobile sets of teeth.

Lela's discharge is much less today and this is a huge relief as I was becoming a quite worried and would have taken her to the vets today had I not seen progress.

Motsi's puppies.

2010-04-28T10:06:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 28th April.

The puppies are 2 weeks old today. They respond to me when I get into the box which is very pleasing. Their hearing must be kicking in too because they are also responding to my voice. Motsi is the most tolerant mum, her babies continue to be quite loud when they want something but she remains as calm as can be.I have stopped weighing them because they all look very plump and are certainly very lively when they are awake.

Motsi refused to go on the walk this morning because It was snowing, so I didn't force the issue. She is eating well and giving me no cause for concern which is really good.

I want to digress from the puppies a moment. Terror struck our little corner of paradise yesterday. Last evening Olivia and I were sat at the table eating our dinner when all of a sudden she jumped up and screamed "my god mum there's a fox on the garden" I immediately grabbed the camera and was able to get the above picture. I then shouted to the dogs, opened the door and all of them, mums included ran out and chased the fox into the woods. They all returned around 10 minutes later. Meantime, I went out to to discover the grizzly details. My lovely hen Lucy, who in the past I had nursed back to health and so enjoyed a very special bond with her was dead, her feathers scattered around the garden. A second chicken, still alive but fighting for every breath was euthanased. My falconry experience taught me to never allow suffering so I promptly put her out of her misery. Another chicken is still missing and I have to assume the fox took her off somewhere. What is staggering is the sheer brazenness of the fox, she must have been very hungry as our property is marked by all of our dogs and in the past we have relied on this to keep our chickens safe from predators.

Motsi's puppies.

2010-04-27T09:40:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 27th April.

The main thing to report today is the puppies have now opened their eyes and this makes such a difference to their appearance. They look like little dogs now. They are almost able to get onto their feet and can make their way around the box with ease. Still does not stop them from crying and being noisy during the night though.

I intend to have a very lazy day today hanging out with the pups. Motsi's puppies will have their nails cut today as they have become quite long and this can be quite painful to Motsi.

The photo illustrates how Motsi, like her sister, still keeps guard even when she has been let out for the toilet.

Lela's puppies

2010-04-27T09:35:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 27th April

The picture posted here shows Lela's devotion to her babies, even when she is let out for a wee she runs to the window to check her pups. I have an identical photo of Motsi doing the same.

Motsi's puppies.

2010-04-27T09:32:00.001-07:00

Tuesday 27th April.

Motsi checking out her sisters puppies.

Lela's puppies

2010-04-27T09:20:00.001-07:00

Tuesday 27th April.

I weighed Lela's puppies yesterday and they have all gained at least 5 ounces. The biggest puppy is Adam who weighed in at just under 2 pounds which is pretty incredible.
Lela is a very intense mother but I did manage to persuade her to come on the walk this morning and I am so pleased she came as I do believe It is really good for the girls to get a break from their pups.

Her puppies are very quiet during the night unlike her sisters. She allowed Motsi into her box this morning, a pleasing indication that she is becoming a little more relaxed..

My only concern is the gunk she is still discharging but her temp remains within normal limits.

My new vetbed arrived from Canada this morning, when It is new It is very luxurious and has wonderful heat retaining properties. I really do recommend It to everyone as dogs love to lie on It and It lasts for years.

Lela's puppies

2010-04-25T09:39:00.000-07:00

Sunday24th April.

Lela joins her grandma Ruby in the super league of mums, she is the most serene bitch and this is conveyed to her puppies as they rarely make a sound. She has been very stubborn about going out to the toilet as she does not want to leave her puppies for a minute. Trying to persuade her to go out this morning in the rain was difficult enough and she only did a wee so I will have to try again later and insist she do what she has to do.

She retained a couple of placentas during the deliveries so yesterday I gave her 1ml of oxytocin and she very quickly passed a huge placenta. She is still discharging so I will have to keep an eye on her temperature as this could be a source of infection.

Checks on the puppies for sinus were clear and I will weigh them this afternoon.

Motsi's puppies.

2010-04-25T09:14:00.000-07:00

Sunday 25th April.

I have spent a lot of time with Motsi's puppies today as I feel they have been a little in the shadow these last few days. I have replaced all of their collars, checked them for sinus and weighed them although, I only have to look at them to see they are all gaining weight beautifully.

I had my best nights sleep last night, Lela's puppies are silent where as Motsi's are still very demanding. She is so tolerant but they are hard work for her. One thing I have noticed and I have never seen this before is she is able to bring her milk down a second time just minutes after the first time. The process works by the puppies latch on to Motsi's teats and they stimulate the glands by suckling and kneading, they do this for up to 5 minutes and then the milk comes in. This is easy to see as all of a sudden the puppies tails becomes erect and wag slightly and you can hear furious gulping. It is a quick sudden spurt and usually does not last for long. The usual pattern is the puppies then fall asleep at the nipple full and contented but these puppies, after their first meal then begin the process all over again and bring on a second download of milk. I have bred 12 litters now and this is the first time I have witnessed this.

Motsi would not go out on the walk this morning because It was raining so gave her the benefit of the doubt. She continues to be a very good mum and is even a little more proficient in her housekeeping.

Lela's puppies

2010-04-24T14:36:00.000-07:00

Saturday 24th April.

In the end Lela's whelping was very uneventful, thank goodness, and she delivered 6 beautiful puppies between the times of 1am and 9.20am.
Her first stage of labour appeared to be much shorter than Motsi's but this is her second litter. Once again we had perfect ridges and no evidence of sinus which is always the worry in the early days..

I decided to call the puppies after old testament characters and am sorry she did not have more as I had a huge list of beautiful boys names. Actually, I am very pleased with the total number of puppies as 16 is going to be quite a handful in the coming weeks.

I am really pleased that the numbers and sexes of puppies worked out perfectly with my waiting list, because someone has dropped out I now have a bitch free but I am very happy to keep It that way as I always like to have a 'floater"

The puppies were born as follows.

1) Adam, dog, born 12.50am 1.8oz, perfect ridge, white to the dewclaw on both front feet, no evidence of sinus and no kink in tail.

2) Eve, bitch, born 01.23am 1.4oz, perfect ridge,no kink in tail, minimal white and no evidence of sinus.

3)Delilah, bitch,born 02.11am perfect ridge, minimal white, no kink in tail and no evidence of sinus.

4)Miriam, bitch, born 02.55am perfect ridge, minimal white, no kink in tail and no evidence of sinus.

5)Elijah, dog, born at 05.45am perfect ridge, minimal white,no kink in tail and no evidence of sinus.

6)Tabitha, bitch, born at 09.20 perfect ridge,minimal white, no kink in tail and no evidence of sinus.

Motsi's puppies.

2010-04-22T08:44:00.001-07:00

Thursday 22nd April

Benadryl and ear plugs are my saviours right now, they ensure a reasonable sleep. I am happy to get up a couple of times during the night just to make sure the puppies have at least a couple of times where they are all attached to their mum at the same time.

Picture the scenario...puppy is in the corner of the box, nose squashed up. Puppy has 2 options:-
1) Turn around and find mum.

2) Stay squashed up against the corner and scream until grandma comes, picks up puppy and puts back with mum.

What does puppy do, you guessed It, number 2.

The next stage of development to look forward to is the eyes opening and this usually starts around day 9-10, I always feel this is a huge milestone and of course their hearing develops too. They look so differently when their eyes are open.

All the pups weigh over 2 pounds in weight now so that is very pleasing.

Lela's temp remains within normal limits so she obviously didn't take from her first mating. Last night we brought the second whelping box into the living room and all of the dogs lay in It except Lela.

Motsi's puppies.

2010-04-21T08:27:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 21st April

The puppies are one week old today, almost double in size and progressing very nicely. I cant help comparing having a litter to having a baby in that If we remembered all of the details we would most probably never do It again. It is always an anxious time, for me anyway, as there is walways something to worry about in these early days. My worry at the moment is that Motsi has this strong urge to keep ruffling up the synthetic sheepskin I use in the whelping box. I understand her need to do this but It makes It quite dangerous for the puppies. When the fleece is laid out in an orderly manner they can get around the box very easily. When Motsi disturbs It they can become trapped underneath making them more susceptible to being trampled on, plus they sort of get lost and then become distressed.

Looking back through old books on breeding dogs the suggestion is, the breeder should always expect to loose at least one puppy in any litter. I have never lost a puppy yet and I know, the most conscientious of breeders have a high mortality rate within their litters It is because we take great steps to ensure the well being of all the puppies until such time when they are more independant. I was reminded of an e mail I received a couple of years from a guy in California who was about to have a first litter of puppies from his ridgeback bitch. I gave him as much advice as I could and directed him to my blog to give him an idea of a normal birth. The next day I received a mail to say he had woke up to find his bitch had given birth to 8 pups and only 2 had died. I was horrified but he appeared quite pleased.

I take Motsi's temperature every day in these early days as a rise would be an indicator that something is amiss. Retained products ie placenta can be a cause for infection and is quite common as is mastitis so I also check her teats and mammary glands.

Motsi is enjoying her walk with the rest of my dogs and I get immense pleasure seeing her running through woods enjoying the brief respite of responsibility from her pups.

Lela's temperature is still within normal limits so I dont think we will be seeing any action from her today and I am quite pleased by this. I am still in the process of catching up on lost sleep and another day is an added bonus as far as I am concerned. They will come soon enough. My second whelping box is good to go and we will bring it into the living room today.

Motsi's puppies.

2010-04-19T08:16:00.000-07:00

Monday 19th April

Last night was much better for everyone I think. Changing Motsi's diet clearly payed off as the puppies were much more settled and I was up only 4 times with the, usual crying puppy at one end of the box wanting to be with mum who is at the other end. The relatively good nights sleep had put me in good stead for Lela's imminent litter.

Mark brought down our second whelping box from the barn yesterday so my job this afternoon will be to give It a good clean and bring It into the house for Lela. As I stated on facebook earlier, my house is a kennel.

The puppies are incredibly strong to say they are only 5 days, It really is remarkable to witness such strong life force.

Motsi's puppies.

2010-04-18T09:48:00.000-07:00

Sunday 18th April

Last night was a poor one, at some point, It seemed all of the puppies had a period of crying and by 4am this morning I was almost crying myself because I was so tired. To date I have not caught up on all of the sleep i missed from earlier in the week and tiredness can make everything seem monumental when in realty It is not. As I type, all of the puppies are very settled and content, reminds me of the baby that sleeps all day and cries all night.

I have just weighed the puppies and their weight gain is excellent.All have gained around 7 ounces since birth so that leaves me to think the puppies are crying because the food I am feeding Motsi is not agreeing with them. They are all well hydrated and the whelping box is nice and warm...Motsi was not impressed when her breakfast this morning was her usual dog kibble titvated by a little canned tuna. She turned her nose up at It at first but later she returned to It and ate It.

All of the puppies are accounted for, even lela's who are due on Wednesday.

Here's hoping for a better night tonight.

Motsi's puppies.

2010-04-17T15:00:00.000-07:00

Saturday 17th April.

We had to change the collars on the puppies today as they have already out grown them, a good sign they continue to do well.

Motsi, like all of my other dogs has decided that ordinary dog food is off the menu now she has puppies so she is being fed a diet of pasta, canned natural pumpkin for her unsettled stomach( too many placenta's)cheese, mackeral, tuna and cream just to name a few.

She appears much more settled today so I no longer fear there maybe another puppy to come. Just dont want to worry I give her mercury poisoning

Motsi's puppies.

2010-04-16T09:56:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 14th April.

In the end Motsi's puppies came bang on time and I suspect she may have created a record in that she whelped 10 puppies in 5 hours.

I am always amazed by my own amnesia when It comes to the puppies which is why my entries on this blog are invaluable because we tend to forget the small details. Motsi started pacing and scratching around in her box on Tuesday afternoon, completely normal and It is what her mother mother Kasidi used to do. I persuaded myself that the puppies would probably arrive later that night so I stayed up with her. By morning she was tired with her exertions and promptly fell fast asleep for a good 3 hours. By around 11 am she started up again and I was fine until I read on the internet that the first stage should last 6-12 hours and anything more should be deemed an emergency and the vet called. Although common sense told me all was ok I started to panic. I rang my friend in MA for re-assurance and she told me what I already knew, no need to worry at this point.
By late afternoon her panting had become more purposeful and I realsed we were in business.

The first puppy was very painful for Motsi and all of my dogs, who were on the back garedn, responded when she let out a huge cry with the first puppy. He arrived at 5pm. Incredibly, by 10 pm It was all over, she had delivered 10 puppies, 7 boys and 3 girls and with the exception of one boy who has offset crown the ridges were all perfect.

Motsi is a good mum but I would be happier if she could relax just a little more. She seems loathe to lie really flat to allow all of the puppies access to her teats and she is favouring one side. My fear is some teats will get blocked and she will develop mastitus. Always something to worry about but that is the nature of the game. For me, no amount of experience and litters takes that worry away.

My other worry, especially with a big litter, is the fading puppy. Last night I was up to the puppies several times as It seemed there was always one crying. What happens in the larger litters is most pups will feed while one is asleep, when the sleeping puppy wakes the milk has gone. The puppy then cries because It is hungry. This only has to happen a few times and the puppy becomes to weak to feed and before you know It, a little puppy is going downhill fast.

I always have on hand a solution called stat. It is a very high calorie thick syrupy solution and is amazing at turning around weak puppies very quickly, enough so they have the strength to fight for their place at the 'milk bar"

I am very happy with the puppies this morning. They have all gained at least 2 ounces and all have nice fat stomachs.

Order that puppies were born.

1)Bently Male, perfect ridge, no kink, minimal white, no kink in tail and no sign of sinus. Wt 1.3oz

2)Legacy Bitch, perfect ridge,no kink in tail,minimal white,and no sign of sinus. Wt1.1oz

3)Cooper Male, perfect ridge, no kink in tail and no sign of sinus with minimla white. Wt 1.2oz.

4)Mustang male perfect ridge, no kink in tail and no sign of sinus. Minimal white. Wt 14oz

5)Jaguar male, perfect ridge, no kink in tail, no evidence of sinus and with minimal white. wt 1lb

6)Mercedes, Bitch, perfect ridge, no kink in tail, minimal white and no evidence of sinus, wt 14oz

7)Aston, Male, crowns offset on ridge but not hugely so, no kink in tail, minimal white and co evidence of sinus, wt 1lb

8)Lincoln Male, perfect ridge, no kink in tail, nosign of sinus and minimal white,wt 15oz

9)Eclipse male, perfect ridge, no kink in tail, minimal white and no evidence of sinus. wt 1lb

10) Porsche Bitch, perfect ridge, no kink in tail, minimal white and no evidence of sinus, wt1.1oz.

Motsi

2010-04-09T11:20:00.000-07:00

Friday 9th April.

Motsi went for her X Ray yesterday and even though she had a full stomach and bowel we saw 9 puppies and my vet said there were most probably more. She is looking extremely rotund and I would not be surprised if there are more.

I originally expected puppies to arrive around the 14th of April but I suspect they could arrive sooner. As per my routine I took Motsi's temperature this morning and was surprised to see It had already dropped, this, together with the fact she has lost her appetite are signs that the onset of labour could be imminent. I think maybe Sunday/Monday.

The whelping box will come out tomorrow and then we really are in puppy mode. At the moment Motsi is lying with her mum and grandma. I am wondering if they know their baby is about to have her first litter.

2010-04-09T11:19:00.001-07:00

Where has the time gone.

2010-03-29T15:14:00.000-07:00

Monday 29th march 2010

My, where has the time gone. It has been nearly 2 years since I last updated my blog and in many ways I do regret this but........here we are, March is nearly over and we are expecting 2 litters of puppies in the next couple of weeks.

Last year was very eventful for us and in hindsight, I am sorry the events were not documented on this blog but I imported semen from a beautiful dog in Northern Ireland, IR/UK champion Veltkammmer Due To More Duo aka as Alfie. My main reason for doing this was to have a new male to add to my lines. It didn't turn out as I would have hoped, the semen, sort of became compromised along the way, but we did get a beautiful female puppy affectionately called Buttons and she will actually attend her first show next weekend.

I have been in-undated with puppy enquiries, I find people do tend to favour the more substantial Ridgeback and because Lela and Motsi only come into season once a year I decided to to breed both of them. Having previously stated I would never have 2 litters again I changed my mind especially as we are approaching the warmer months.

Motsi will be x rayed later this week to give us an idea of the number of puppies to expect and Lela will go a week later. Expecting puppies is always a very exciting time and I am really ready to welcome more puppies into the world. Both mums have been supplemented with folic acid to minimise the incidence of dermoid sinus, a condition which plagues our breed but fortunately, something I have never had to deal with.

The weather has been pretty abysmal these last few days but we are promised some serious sunshine for the weekend.

I have 2 young dogs that I am hoping to show this year. Friends will know I really do not enjoy the show world but I recognise I do have to get my dogs out there. I was approached by a young handler a couple of months ago, her name is Star Utter and she is from Syracuse and I have agreed that she can handle Buttons for me at the Syracuse show this weekend. I have been able to do a little work with Buttons but the weather had been the major obstacle so I am not expecting great things. Handling classes through my local club will start up in May.

I will also be attending my clubs awards dinner on Wednesday at a lovely Italian eatery in Oneonta, It was great fun last year with fabulous food so here's hoping this year's will be just as good.

Next update will be the news on Motsi's x ray.

Puppies

2008-05-19T12:27:00.000-07:00

Monday 19th May.

Where has the time gone. The puppies are now five weeks old and dominate my day, by the time the end of the day draws near I have had neither the energy or the inclination to write my blog so I do apologise.

Last week we had a glimpse of spring like weather and it was wonderful for the pups, they were able to play outside and It made my job much easier but sadly the weather has been atrocious recently and today is positively horrid. I am trying to establish the routine of going outside to wee on waking but the puppies run to the door, feel and sense the horrible cold weather and quickly turn around refusing to go out. They are Ridgebacks after all. I am told the weather is going to improve by the weekend which will be a blessing.

The pups are all very boisterous now and very demanding. They are eating huge amounts of food and consequently producing even more from the opposite end to their stomachs. The refuse sacks at the bottom of my drive, which were left for the binmen this morning resembled Ben Nevis.(a mountain in Scotland)

I have continued to worm the pups weekly and I have to say they are very good at taking their medicine which is more than I can say for my cats. Athena one of my cats has my arm in ribbons and spat almost all of her medicine around the floor when I attempted to do her earlier. She threw up in the kitchen and this is always the tell tale sign that worms are present. She is a prolific hunter and so is constantly infecting herself.

Lela is finally recovering from her wounds but It was not without drama. Motsi kept chewing her lampshade and licking her wound plus she would go running through the woods bumping into everything. I suppose I could have stopped her daily walks but then she would have become really unhappy and I could not have done that to her. My dogs live for two daily events, their walk and their dinner.

We have had visitors these last two weekends and I am happy to say the dogs have been impeccably behaved. Raiza smothers everyone in kisses and Brewster, stoic as always, mainly ignores everyone, they really could not be more different. The girls are great. Ruby exudes health and vitality, Kasidi looks a little worn out, Lela is finally recovering from her wound and little Motsi is challenging for top spot. It is quite interesting to watch, she would even like to take possesion of the pups if I allowed her to. Last week she was playing with pups , pretending to feed them and as Ruby approached she growled warning her to stay away. What was interesting was Ruby's reaction, she really seemed not to care. So we will have to wait and see what develops.

puppies

2008-05-04T14:42:00.000-07:00

Sunday 4th May.

I love my puppies, all 21 of them. They consume my every day but I just adore them. It is an endless task of making sure they are clean, well fed , happy and have an endless supply of cuddles. What is so amazing is how easy It has been for the two litters to converge as one and even the mums are happy to nurse whoever comes to the milkbar. Kasidi is now the supermum as she just loves to attend to all 21 of the pups whereas Ruby has to be coerced into the utility room and has a face which when she is feeding can only be described as sour. I do separate the mums at night by dividing the utility room as I feel It is only fair.

People always ask me If It is easy to say no to some of the puppy inquiries that I receive and I always have the same answer which is no. I love my puppies so much that I will never let them go to a home that I am not entirely comfortable with and so It makes the job of saying no very easy.

Kodak is doing very well, I always make sure he is on a prime teat and watch over to make sure he is not pushed off by a bigger puppy. I also hand feed him raw minced beef as a top up.

I wormed all of the pups again on Friday night along with both mums. I do believe worming is the most important thing a breeder can do for the welfare of the pups. One must always assume they are riddled and work from there.

My friends bull who Ihave on loan was really sick a couple of weeks ago and It transpired he was just riddled with worms. I regularly worm all of my animals, cats, dogs, cows and pigs to support healthy living. I also frontlined my cats yesterday and will do the dogs when the pups are a little older. It costs a small fortune but It really is a necessity.

I bought a new lampshade for Lela as Motsi was licking at her wound and now the number one priority is to stop Motsi chewing this one.

We will add some new pics of the pups tonight on the website to show how they cuddle in together. One mass of delicious Rhodesian Ridgeback puppies.

Puppies

2008-05-02T07:40:00.000-07:00

Friday 2nd May.

I introduced a combination of dry kibble and raw beef mince to Ruby's puppies on Wednesday and they went crazy for It. Its amazing how they seem so content on their mothers milk and then, wow, raw meat and there is no turning back for them. Kasidi's puppies were less enthused yesterday but they are dabbling and lapping milk from a bowl.

The giant leap came from the fact that I moved all of the puppies into the utility room yesterday and so we all had a first uninterrupted nights sleep in three weeks. Bliss. I divided the room into 2 halves so the mums had their own space but this morning I took the barrier down and remarkably the pups have merged and both Kasidi and Ruby have fed the wrong pups this morning with no concern whatsoever.

As an added precaution for correct identity I have painted all of Ruby's puppies back foot with pink nail varnish and they were not impressed with the acetone smell.

Kodak is a little fighter and has almost caught up with the other pups so I can finally relax and not worry about him. They are all so adorable, they are playing, can see and hear and are displaying little doggy behavioural ways such as scratching the way dogs do and hitting the spot where the leg bobs up and down.

Mark is back from England tomorrow so an extra hand will be very much appreciated.

Puppies

2008-04-28T11:41:00.000-07:00

Monday 28th April.

The past week has just flown by and it has not been without drama but there is a light at the end of tunnel and with each passing day the puppies become stronger and hopefully less vulnerable.

Last wednesday whilst walking the dogs I noticed that Lela had what seemed to be a large chunk missing from her back. I quickly realised It was quite deep as the muscle could be seen and that It would need suturing. So,much of Wednesday was tied up with her, she required a general anaesthetic and was given a course of antibiotics and of course the wound was sutured. The next morning I was confronted with a dog with a chewed off lampshade (Motsi) and a wound where most of the sutures had been bitten out. Fortunately she had not been able to get the deeper ones so I dressed the wound and now I have a constant battle with her re keeping her bandage on. The wound is gaping but It is clean and I am confident It will heal but It is an added stress I could do without right now.

The weekend was very fraught and once again It was Kasidi and her puppies that caused all of the anxiety. Her puppies developed runny stools on Saturday and she just refused to clean up after them so by 11 am I hd already washed and dried 3 sheepskins and I noticed that Kodak was failing. I have never wormed the puppies as early as 2 weeks, I usually start at 3 weeks but I decided to worm the pups and I commenced supplementing Kodak. He had become too weak to suckle from his mum so I hoped by boosting him I could give him the strength he needed to compete with his rather large littermates. It was quite a stressful time for me and there were times when I thought I was going to experience my first loss but he did get stronger as the day progressed. I set the alarm for 03.30 (although that was wishful thinking as I have yet to get one good nights sleep) and after his feed he was able to nurse from his mother. Yesterday he was doing well but then this morning he seemed to be off a little so I have supplemented him again today and once again he has picked up. I think what is happening is during the night the bigger dogs are pushing him around and he doesn't get to feed. He is a lovely boy, a little smaller at the moment but I will introduce him to raw meat in a couple of days and I know he will catch up with his brothers and sisters.

Ruby is the ultimate perfect mother,she serenely gets on with the job of mothering and I have no concerns over their progress. She keeps her box immaculately clean and her puppies barely make a noise. Her pups are now up on their feet and their teeth are starting to come through. They have also started to play with one with another but keep falling over as they cant quite support themselves for very long. I also wormed Ruby's pups for the first time yesterday.

Things have been a little calmer today so I have tried to catch up with phoning people who are interested in one of the pups. I think I am going to ask for a deposit this time around as I am responding to many enquiries and I need to know who the commited prospective owners are. I always have owners drop out at the last minute and I think by asking for a deposit it shows commitment from both sides.

Ruby and Kasidi

2008-04-21T08:38:00.000-07:00

Monday 21st April.

During the weekend It became quite obvious to Mark and I that kasidi's puppies were definitely more fractious than Ruby's and the only difference we could come up with was the antibiotics that Kasidi was taking for her mastitis. So, yesterday afternoon I decided that, as she had been taking for them 8 days, I would stop them and what a difference It made. I got up once during the night at 03.30 and It was infact Ruby's puppy and had my ears not been on ultra alert I would not have heard the pup anyway.

The pressure inside the whelping box must be intense for both of the girls at times so I always encourage them to come on the walk in the morning and Kasidi came with us for the first last time Friday. It was so lovely seeing the girls running through woods with the other dogs, their responsibilities put aside for a while. Psychologically It must be so good for them to have that small break. What is funny is on the return home they are both out in front and when we reach the back door they both compete to get to their respective box first.

I checked all of the puppies for sinus again today and just generally gave them a good going over. Alex cut the nails of Ruby's pups yesterday and I will do kasidi's later this afternoon.

They are all gaining weight and are all looking very plump. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous, so much so, that I have switched the heat lamps off. A small saving on my enormous electricity bill.

I have always used the extra thick vetbed for my dogs which is a synthetic sheepskin and is excellent for puppies. It always keeps the puppy dry as liquid seeps through to the bottom plus It is very warm and cozy. It is available everywhere back home and everyone uses it but I have only been able to find one place in Florida that sells It but It is not the thick one that I like. Mark, much to his annoyance, brings my vetbed from England in an extra suitcase.

Ruby's pups eyes have opened and their ears look more normal and they all look like proper little dogs now. They have very dark masks and my favourite is Sawyer which is silly really as I should not have a favourite at this early stage.

Puppies

2008-04-17T17:52:00.000-07:00

Thursday 17th April.

It is very similar to having a newborn baby right now in that no matter what time I go to bed I can guarantee that two hours later I will be woken up by the puppies and that pattern continues throughout the night. It is always a puppy left behind in the box at feeding time and It is always Kasidi's puppy. Ruby however has eleven puppies and I never hear a murmur out of them at all.

Today I weighed all of the puppies and they are all gaining nicely , Kasidi's puppies are particularly rotund and some of them are as big as Ruby's. Viao is 2lb. 4oz as is Sawyer but most impressive is Air who now weighs 1lb.6oz.

All of the collars were replaced as they were already becoming too tight. I have decided for ease of identification Ruby's male pups will wear white collars and the girls orange and Kasidi's males will wear blue and the girls pink.

I noticed this evening that Cairo's eyes are showing the first signs of opening which is very exciting as I always see this as the first milestone.

I apologise for the lack of photos but my daughter has the camera in Spain right now(ours has seen the better light of day) I also hope I am not repeating myself but I can always blame that on tiredness.

Kasidi's pups are already looking much lighter, Its amazing how dark they are at birth and then how quickly the colour fades. The top of the head is always a good indication of the true colour of the puppy.

Motsi is showing great interest
and has already ventured into Ruby's whelping box under very tentative supervision of course. Raiza is also showing mild interest in the puppies but Brewster is completely ignoring them.

Kasidi's Puppies

2008-04-16T09:52:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 16th April.

Here are the details of Kasidi's puppies:

1) Adobe A dog born at 23.30 WT 1.5lb perfect ridge, first sinus check clear.No kink in tail.

2) Flash a boy born at 00.05 WT 1.3lb perfect ridge, first sinus check clear. No kink in tail.

3) Flex a boy born at 01.30 WT 1.2lb perfect ridge, first sinus check clear. No kink in tail.

4) Apple a bitch born at 02.00 WT 1.3lb perfect ridge, first sinus check clear. No kink in tail.

5) Air a bitch born ? soon after Apple WT 130z perfect ridge, first sinus check clear. No kink in tail.

6) Vaio a dog born at 02.20 WT 1.30z perfect ridge, first sinus check clear. No kink in tail.

7) Coral a bitch born at 03.15 WT 1.2 perfect ridge, first sinus check clear. No kink in tail

8) Kodak a dog born at 03.55 WT 1.10z perfect ridge, first sinus check clear. No kink in tail.

9) Zenith a dog born at 04.20 WT 1.20z perfect ridge, first sinus check clear. No kink in tail.

10) Intel a bitch born at 05.45 WT 1.10z off set crowns on ridge, first sinus check clear. No kink in tail.

11) Norton a boy born at 06.30 WT 1.2 perfect ridge, first sinus check clear. No kink in tail.

12) Sony a girl at 20.30 WT 1.10z perfect ridge, first sinus check clear. No kink in tail.

I am pleased to say all of the puppies are doing well as are their mums. They have all gained weight on a daily basis.

I took Kasidi to the vets on Monday. She was X Rayed to eliminate puppy retention, given another dose of oxytocin and commenced antibiotics. Her back mammary glands are now functioning and I am quite confident we will not have an abscess deveoping.

Kasidi's Puppies

2008-04-13T12:22:00.000-07:00

Sunday.

Kasidi delivered her 10 pups (details to follow) Last puppy born at 06.30. Last night we were watching TV, (Mark and I were dozing as we were both exhausted) when we heard a cry from the puppies, Alex went to over to investigate and declared Kasidi was passing a placenta, he then shouted the placenta was getting bigger and out popped a puppy, 14 hours after the last puppy. A beautiful bitch with a perfect ridge. This meant Kasidi had 11 pups and Ruby 9 so I decided to offer Ruby Kasidi's first born pup Adobe. I knew this was risky but It did in fact work very well. Kasidi was fast asleep when I put Adobe in with Ruby and she immediately licked It, the puppy then made his way to her teat and had his first taste of milk as he was only getting colostrum from Kasidi. He has now adapted very well to his new family. He is very easily identifiable as Kasidi's puppy as he is the only one with white front feet.

This afternoon as I was sat in Kasidi's box I noticed I had two puppies with the same named collar. This confused me somewhat but I guessed tiredness had caused the error, as I went through the puppies all were accounted for but I still had 2 called Apple. I counted the puppies and the total came to 11 but we had passed a puppy to Ruby the night before so I was now very confused. I consulted my paperwork from Kasidi's deliveries and can only surmise that after Apple had been born another bitch arrived that I was totally unaware of. When later I saw a puppy without a collar I thought I had forgotten to put Apples collar on.
So Kasidi had 12 puppies, seven dogs and five bitches. The last puppy is called Air and she weighs just 13 ounces, the smallest puppy we have ever had. At the moment I am vigilant as to her welfare, I have already supplemented her with a high calorie food for fading puppies and just hope that she does well. I have never lost A puppy and certainly do not want to do so now.

Both Ruby and Kasidi have their whelping boxes side by side and from time to time they peer into each others boxes to see whats happening. They have never had a fallout and I am confident they will be fine over the coming months.

I will give details of Kasidi's pups tomorrow. I had very little sleep again, last night choosing to doze on the sofa. In the early days what seems to happen is a puppy becomes stranded at one end of the box and cries when he knows siblings are feeding. So I am constantly picking up puppies and placing them with their mother. This is only during the very early days and I also needed to maintain temperature in the living room via the stove.

UPDATE. 19.30

Kasidi's milk came in today and this evening I have noticed a problem. The back 2 teats particularly the lower one is hardening and feeling warm and the puppies will not feed from them. In view of the fact that 11 puppies now have only 9 teats I have handed over Flex to Ruby. He is feeding quite happily and Ruby appears happy to have him.

I have started Kasidi on Clavamox 500mg which fortunately I always have on standby and she will go to the vets in the morning. Her temp is slightly elevated but I suspect It is going to go up more before It comes down. This is all very unfortunate and I feel fraught with worry, the puppies are so vulnerable at this early stage of their life.

It is going to be another long night.

Kasidi and her puppies.

2008-04-12T03:24:00.000-07:00

Saturday 12th April.

Kasidi has delivered 6 boys and three girls overnight and she has been remarkable. Very quick and no problems. Superb ridges in all puppies, one bitch slightly off set.

More to follow when I have had some sleep.

Still might be one more puppy.

Puppies

2008-04-11T16:23:00.000-07:00

Friday 11th April.

It was a routine delivery and because Ruby is so good at disguising the early stages of labour time just flew by. The first puppy was:

1) Cairo a bitch born at 0300. WT 1lb.30z correct ridge. No kink in tail. First sinus check clear.

2) Nairobi a bitch born at 04.11. WT 1lb.50z. Correct ridge. No kink in tail. First sinus check clear.

3) Marseille a bitch born at o4.21. WT 1lb.30z. Correct ridge. No kink in tail. First check for sinus clear.

4) Sawyer a boy born at 05.00. WT 1lb.70z. Correct ridge. No kink in tail. First check for sinus clear.

5) Rio a boy born at 05.40. WT 1.5lb. correct ridge. No kink in tail. First check for sinus clear.

6) Berlin a boy born at 06.06. WT 1.1lb. Extra crown on ridge. No kink in tail. First check for sinus clear.

7) Rome a boy born at 06.30. WT 1lb.30z. Correct ridge. No kink in tail. First check for sinus clear.

8) Beijing a boy born at 08.45. WT 1.3lb0z. Correct ridge. No kink in tail. First check for sinus clear.

9) Tokyo a born at 10.55. WT 1.40z. Correct ridge. No kink in tail. First check for sinus clear.

Mother and pups are doing very well indeed.

Kasidi is in labour as I type and I have no real measure of how far she has progressed .

Kasidi wears her heart on her sleeve and lets me know the first moment she has a contraction. I could be up all night tonight with her and still not see her first puppy until tomorrow night.I am keeping my fingers crossed we will be finshed by the morning.

Mark arrives tomorrow, supposedly in time to help with the whelping and as usual he has got off lightly.

Puppies

2008-04-10T04:49:00.000-07:00

Thursday 10th April.

Wednesday was the day I was going to start taking Ruby's temperature, more for a benchmark so I could detect a change. When the reading came out at 97.3 I knew we were on our way. On the walk yesterday she was rooting around in the leaves but she always does this a couple of days before she has her puppies and I just took it as normal behaviour for her. The drop in temperature took me by surprise but I knew I had plenty of time, in my mind I thought they would come sometime today.

The first puppy, a girl called Nairobi arrived at 3am this morning. Puppy number 7 a boy was born @ 6.30. We have 3 girls and four boys, one boy has an extra crown and the rest of the pups have beautiful ridges. I want Ruby to deliver the remaining 2 pretty quickly as It is now 8am and this is the largest gap. She is pushing now.

Ruby and Kasidi

2008-04-07T12:09:00.000-07:00

Monday 7th April

As most people who read this blog will know Ruby was not supposed to have a litter of puppies and she will be spayed later on in the year but the way she carries her puppies is quite incredible. She really is not very big at all when compared to Kasidi but the X Ray taken this afternoon confirmed she is carrying 9 puppies.

On the other hand, Kasidi, who is enormous, has nine maybe 10 puppies but looks like she is carrying 15.

Both of the dogs were impeccably behaved, I was very proud of them. They are wonderful examples of their breed. There was a young boxer in the waiting room with "issues" and they just ignored him. They are now lying on the deck sunbathing.

My only concern is they have both lost their appetite and they both appear fed up but I can relate to that as I think the last week of any pregnancy is tiring for anyone or any thing.

I am now worrying about ridges, dermoid, and anxious that all of the puppies will have a safe delivery into the world. I know I have been very lucky in that so far I have never had a puppy with a sinus and the ridges in all of my litters have been very good. I read somewhere the more litters you have, the more you worry because you are more aware of all of the things that can go wrong. This so true in my case.

The next step for me is to start recording their body temperature as a drop is the first indication of the onset of labour.

Dogs and Things.

2008-04-02T12:17:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 2nd April.

My thoughts are with the desperate people of Zimbabwe right now as they move into the fourth day of waiting for the outcome of their election. The BBC are reporting that Morgan Tsvangirai's party are neck and neck with Robert Mugabe's and that It may go to a second round.

Some of my happiest memories are from my time spent in Zimbabwe. It was 1983 and even then, Robert Mugabes 5th Brigade were systematically slaughtering the opposition. (the Ndbele people) I lived in Matabele land in a small town called Hwange close to Victoria Falls. I was lucky to find a job in the pharmacy of a small hospital which was run by British nuns. My boss was a lovely Irishman who was most probably an alcoholic, I was suppose to be second in command and we had 2 local men called Solomon and Isaac who were the technicians. I remember one day dispensing a prescription for a baby called Bornfree, such was the optimism of the people at the time. I wonder if Bornfree is alive to day to see the wholesale destruction of her country. I heard on the news the other day that the average life expectancy of a Zimbabwean is 35.

We called our first Ridgeback Joshua after Joshua Nkomo who was the leader of Matabeleland at the time I was there. This was also the first time I encountered the Rhodesian Ridgeback.

I would like to keep a male from Kasidi and Raiza and my thoughts are that I should dedicate my dogs name to Morgan Tsvangirai, just cant figure out an abbreviated version. Maybe we could call him Tsvang pronounced Chang.

We woke up to horrible snow this morning and although Ruby and Kasidi would have preferred to stay at home they came on the walk and really enjoyed themselves. I do feel It is important to keep them fit so they are prepared for the huge task they will face in a couple of weeks. Uterine inertia can be a problem in bitches that have a large litters and fitness plays an important part in preventing this.

Ruby is becoming increasingly fussy with her food. She knows that when she is feeding her puppies I give her lots of chicken and tuna and this time around she is holding out for the same even though the puppies are yet to be born. I feed my dogs Evo which is a highly palatable dog food with no grain but she is even turning her nose up at that. Sprinkle something from our food table and she will wolf It down. I am happy to play her little games If It keeps her happy as she is carrying very precious cargo.

Kasidi is looking enormous but I will not know until next week how many puppies she is carrying.

Dogs and things

2008-03-27T12:28:00.000-07:00

Thursday 27th March.

It goes without saying that the number one priority for any breeder is to protect the interests of the breed. We do this in the first instance, by educating ourselves in all things relating to our particular breed, ie attending and participating in dog shows, attending breed seminars, membership of Regional clubs, keeping up to date with the latest research etc. When our puppies arrive we should carefully select prospective new owners and offer help and support as required. I like to think I do all of these things but one thing I will not do is tie new owners up in long winded contracts that protect the interest of the breeder rather than the dog. Most new owners want a pet, whether the dog is a correctly marked example of the breed or a pet quality puppy. Pet quality puppies should always be sold as such with a restriction to neuter at a sensible age.(not as a puppy) Sometimes someone comes along who stresses an interest in breeding at a future date. I always make clear that before breeding is undertaken, a sound knowledge of the breed is required and of course the dog in question should have the necessary health tests carried out.
I also encourage the new owner to be aware of health issues relating to our breed and to be able to detect dermoid sinus.

I was given enormous help and support by prominent breeders in Scotland during my first two litters and never once was I made to feel that my intentions were anything other than honorable.

I received a mail the other day which made me feel very angry and sad all at the same time. It was from a woman who bought a very nice bitch from me from my first litter here in the US. She stated she would be interested in breeding at a future date. She had bred dogs before but not Rhodesian Ridgebacks. I was very supportive of this and promised to help her any way I could , I also thought her dog would add some very positive attributes to the breed. She attended the local shows and was attracted to a dog who was owned by a lady who had a contract with the breeder. She fulfilled her part of the contract or so she thought, in that she campaigned him with the assistance of a handler to his championship title. She is not a joint owner which is the preferred method if the breeder wants to keep control of a particular dog.

It would seem the breeder is making things very difficult for these two people to go ahead with a mating even though they have both been responsible but what has made me furious is one of the requests the breeder is demanding is a five year generation history of my dogs and their relatives. He wants to know about ridgeless puppies, puppies with dermoid sinus, ridge history etc. To say this over the top is an under statement but It also calls into question my integrity as a breeder.

Which brings me to the subject of health screening. Of course I think It is a good thing but there are limits. In the Uk the kennel club asks Ridgeback breeders, as do the regional clubs, to screen for hip dysplasia. Some breeders are now screening elbows, but It is not required. The Ridgeback breed in the UK is not known for having thyroid problems, cardiac problems or eye problems. I visited the UK kennel club yesterday to see what the latest recommendations were. A recent survey of Ridgebacks showed a 2% incidence of hypothyroidism with similar levels for cardiac problems. The Kennel Club have 2 lists relating to health screening requirements, the first are breeds that must have breed related testing and the second is a list of breeds that are susceptible to certain conditions where it advisable but not compulsory to undertake testing. The Rhodesian Ridgeback is not on either of these lists.

My dogs are all from British /European lines and I comply with my kennel club guidelines. When I first moved to the US I had Kasidi and Raiza tested for thyroid function at my local vets, they were of course within normal limits. I know they are within normal limits and I do not have a burning desire to make It official through the OFA as I am yet to be convinced It is really essential. My next task is to discover whether American Ridgebacks have real health issues with their thyroid function, eyes and hearts or are they just tested for testings sake.

Yesterday I read on the Rhodesian Ridgeback Club Of Great Britains website that there could be, as soon as this year, a test for dermoid sinus,now that is a test that is needed for our breed and I would be more than happy to test my dogs for that.

Lela, because she was born in the USA has commenced her testing and as previously stated on this blog, she has normal elbows and good hips. I will speak to my vet about the other tests but I suspect to (conform) I will get them done.

The girls are doing well. Ruby's appetite is hit and miss. They will go to the vets next week for X Ray and examination.

I have a young pig who is 4 months old that will be bacon come the autumn and 2 lambs are soon to be born that will also join the Kaskazini clan.

Dogs and things

2008-03-22T13:45:00.000-07:00

Saturday 23rd of March.

Dermoid Sinus is a condition that is prevalent in our breed and although I have never had a puppy with this condition I strive to take preventative measures against It. Current recommendations are to administer high doses of folic acid to pregnant bitches.
Dermoid sinus can be likened to spina bifada in humans. The recommended dose is 5 mg and I have been administering folic acid prior to mating Kasidi as It was a planned mating and to Ruby from the first day of mating. Anything that can eliminate this condition from our breed is good enough for me.

All of my animals have fallen out with me this week as everyone has been wormed, the cats in particular are very upset with me. Kasidi arrived at day 40 today so she has commenced her daily worming regime. I camouflage the bitter tasting medicine with cream and It seems to do the trick. Both she and Ruby know the routine now of receiving their medication, the folic acid is presented to them either wrapped in a piece of ham or enveloped in philly cheese and they absolutely love it.

Both girls are growing by the day, Ruby outwards and Kasidi downwards. Its incredible how differently they carry their puppies.

My daughter Olivia, who usually is my right hand man during whelping will be in Spain this time around so I am currently looking for someone to help me with the puppies. Mark, I suspect will be in the Uk so I might have to tempt Alex, my son, with some financial incentive. Four out of the five litters i have had have arrived during the night. It would be a miracle if the puppies could arrive during the day but somehow I think they will come during the night.

Dogs and things

2008-03-17T12:18:00.000-07:00

Monday 17th March.

I returned from my trip and although we can never be sure, It does look as if both girls are in whelp. They are both looking rather rotund and their teats are very enlarged, they are also very hungry all of the time. While I was at Crufts I was able to buy some panacur 10% which is a worming medicine that is safe to use for bitches in whelp. (For some reason It is not available in the US ) so I will begin a daily worming regime from day 40 which for Ruby is Wednesday and Kasidi Saturday. We always assume our dogs are infected with worms and I feel much more comfortable being able to start worming asap. This will greatly reduce the likelyhood of the puppies being infected.

Crufts was very exciting, spread over a 20 acre site in 4 halls and with visitor numbers in excess of 50 thousand over the 4 days, stamina was definitely needed. The Ridgeback entry was diverse in that we had a number of dogs from all over Europe and a couple from the USA. The judging was inconsistent but the best dog went to the American Kimani dog and best bitch went to Veltkammer Lady done a Bunk who also took BOB and went through to the final cut in the group. She happens to hold the British record for the amount of CC's awarded.

I have received the OFA results for Lela and they are elbows normal and hips good so that is a relief. All of that free running from an early age and the fact she was in season when she was X rayed have had no bearing on the result.

All of the dogs are sunbathing on the deck at the moment, a little taste of warmer weather to come , although It is sunny today It is still very cold.

My plan with Ruby and kasidi is to wait a couple of weeks and then have them X Rayed to see how many puppies can be seen. According to my dates, Ruby will be due on the 12th April and Kasidi the 15th. In the past Ruby has been early and Kasidi late so I am keeping my fingers crossed this will not be the case this time round.

Dogs and things

2008-02-25T08:10:00.000-08:00

Monday 25th February.

I am pleased to say everything has now settled down and the dogs are all back together as a pack. No incidents between Brewser and Raiza which is a relief, just grumbles here and there.

I have received a couple of mails today alerting me to the fact that It is the 4th birthday of my second litter between Ruby and Dempsey. One was from the owner of Phoenix, a beautiful boy that I very nearly kept. He is so handsome and has so many of the features I happen to love in Ridgebacks. His most recent photos are on facebook sitting on top of Arthurs seat in Edinburgh. I will try and retrieve them for the website.

I am looking for changes in the girls behaviour that may indicate they are pregnant, Ruby seem to be hungry all of the time but I dare not, at this stage, read too much into that. Kasidi is no different, showing too much interest in the pile of chicken manure left, from me taking advantage of a warm day last week and cleaning them out.

I went to New Jersey last week and met up with two of my puppies, Adia formerly known as Hamlet( Kasidi/ Brewster and Ozzie formerly known as Beckham ( Ruby/Raiza. It is lovely to meet up and monitor their progress.

I am hoping Ken and Lisa will let me use Adia in my breeding programme in the future as he is a beautiful boy, the image of Brewster, but with less dark mask on his face. Lisa has recently sent me lovely pictures of him but I will have to wait for Mark to get home on Friday before they can go up on my website.

This time next week I will be heading to New York for my trip to England and to Crufts. There is a record entry of 230 plus dogs entered this year so It should be fabulous.

Dogs and things

2008-02-14T12:06:00.000-08:00

Thursday 14th February.

This past week has been a huge learning exercise for me, as I surrendered the control I thought I had over to my dogs. I am sure some breeders would be alarmed by this statement but I am just being honest. I planned to take a litter from Kasidi and Lela using Raiza but they decided otherwise.

I thought Ruby was passed her peak, was not as vigilant as usual and before I knew It she was with Raiza in a tie position. This is not the end of the world as Ruby is an extremely fit and healthy dog.

Lela, through forces now made clear to me, (see previous entry), was never going to let Raiza near her and Kasidi decided one mating was enough and after that refused any advances Raiza attempted..On previous occasions she has been very happy to indulge in several matings. I cannot confidently predict if either bitch is pregnant so we will just have to wait and see.

Understanding how the dogs operate and trying to interpret their behaviour is an ongoing event but I now understand if I am to have success with breeding Lela and Motsi in the future, Ruby and Kasidi will have to be neutered and that is fine.

Motsi has spent the last couple of days in the constant company of her dad Brewster and It's been lovely watching them interact with one another. He is very attentive to her, cleaning her ears out regularly and generally being very loving. They have been sleeping with my son Alex while Raiza's ardour is heightened. Hopefully everything will settle down soon and we can all get back to normal. I just wish there was a pregnancy test for dogs on the market that would turn blue in an instant if pregnancy hormones were detected. Surely its possible, until such time we will have to play the waiting game.

Dogs and things

2008-02-11T05:36:00.001-08:00

Monday 11th February.

It has been a chaotic weekend which has not been helped by most of my family being knocked out by a nasty bug.

I realised yesterday that nothing was going to happen with Lela as she was was positively ferocious towards Raiza's advances. Last night I searched the web seeking likely reasons as to why she behaved the way she did and found this very interesting article.

http://www.wolfhouse.dk/articles/sociobiologyofreproduction.php

AI is perhaps a solution, but one for the future as I think she peaked this weekend. Lela is very submissive and this obviously factored into her refusal to mate with Raiza, especially as she has Ruby and Kasidi, both dominant females in the pack and in season too.

The good news is Kasidi and Raiza had a tie this morning. It came from nowhere as Raiza has been per-occupied with Lela all weekend and he did It with no assistance from me, so the penny has finally dropped.

Dogs and things

2008-02-08T09:14:00.000-08:00

Friday 8th February.

Well, Its pretty crazy here at the momemt and not quite going to plan, Lela was the first to go into season but It was Ruby that peaked first, so Raiza is whinning constantly. I'm not sure if we have missed the boat with Lela or Its just that, like her mum, she ovulates late. Judging by Raiza's behaviour with Ruby, It seems unlikely we have missed her time, so fingers crossed.

I realised, as I was trying to walk the dogs this morning that I cannot leave them all with Mark for me to go to Westminster. They were such a handful , Ruby will run off at the drop of a hat given the chance, she really is a little hussy when she is in season, then of course we have to keep the boys seperate, plus we have to keep Motsi out of the way of Raiza too. Yes, Westminster will have to be missed this year which is a shame.

We have all gone down with this horrible bug that is doing the rounds right now. I also have a poorly chicken kept by the fire who I am feeding regularly with a pipette. She doesn't seem to be making much progress but neither is she deteriorating, so again fingers crossed that she will get well. I checked to see if she was egg bound which she wasn't so I really have no idea what is wrong with her.

I am ready for spring now but I suspect it is some way off yet.

All things doggy related.

2008-01-30T08:44:00.000-08:00

Wednesday 30th January.2008.

Oh dear where has the time gone. Things became so routine and mundane, there really was nothing to add on this blog which was started in the first instance to monitor my puppies progress.

Over the last couple of months I have been inundated with puppy enquiries, so much so that I have lost count. Most people always say the same and that is, my dogs look like how Ridgebacks used to look in the US.

One of my puppy enquiries led me to believe that I might have an ideal home for Ranger. It was a man called Louie who ticked all of the boxes as far as I was concerned. While responding to his e mail I mentioned Ranger, a couple of days later he visited us and would have taken him there and then but he was about to go on a cruise with his partner. He picked Ranger up a couple of weeks ago and I have since had feedback that he has settled in very well. He shares Louie with a Labrador and goes to work with Louie when they are not visiting their upstate New York home. I am hoping to visit them in the spring.

I have all four girls in season at the moment so we are going to be in for some fun and games starting next week. I intend to breed Lela and Kasidi, so if all goes well we will have 2 litters within a week of one another. Springtime will make life much easier and we are all looking forward to the prospect of pups once more. My plan is to seperate the dogs into 2 groups, Brewster with Ruby and Motsi(he is now castrated bless him) and Raiza with Lela and Kasidi. Just hope Raiza will be up to the job.

I am pleased the girls did not interfere with my plans to go to Crufts in March as this is my yearly pilgrimage, there is no dog show on earth like It. I am also hoping to go to the Westminster Show in New york in 2 weeks time.

I will update any progress with Lela and Kasidi as it comes.

The dogs are all fighting fit and enjoying their snowy walks, Motsi has had a huge growth spurt in recent weeks which I am secretly very pleased about.She stands 26 inches at the shoulders now, which is of course the top end of the breed standard, but which makes her the smallest of my girls as they are all a little "over". She is maturing nicely, slower than I am used to though.

Dog things

2007-12-05T12:12:00.000-08:00

Wednesday 5th December.

Hunting deer with guns is up on Saturday and we will all be very relieved, however, so far, we have had no incidents with hunters so that is good.

Ranger has fully recovered from his porcupine encounter and all I can hope for is he learned a harsh lesson. The rest of the dog family are well and look so funny when they are out in their brightly coloured coats.

I spotted blood on the floor this morning so someone is coming into season, I suspect It could be either Motsi(her first) or Lela. Either way, the timings are good for me as If it is Lela and I do mate her It will not coincide with my trip to crufts.

We have had significant snowfall over the last few days so the dogs are getting good strong exercise and that includes me. Walking in deep snow is such a good aerobic exercise and what with lugging bales of hay around I really do not need to go to the gym.

The dogs will not be happy tonight as I have had a slate floor put down in the kitchen today and indoors will be strictly out of bounds to them.

Ranger

2007-11-27T12:00:00.000-08:00

Tuesday 27th November.

Poor Ranger had to go to the vets last week as he was spiked by the porcupine and unfortunately for him the quills were mainly in his mouth and tongue. He was very distressed by the incident but I took him to the vets immediately and they were removed under anaesthetic. He was put on anti biotics as his nose was very swollen. I just hope this incident taught him to stay well clear of porcupines.

In my previous entry I forgot to mention that the quills should be snipped with scizzors before removal to relieve the air thus releasing the vacuum.

Last Wednesday morning we let the dogs out for their first wee as usual and Kasidi and Lela did not come back, Mark and I were a little alarmed as It is hunting season. A little later we set off on our walk and as we approached the first field we walk through we found what had been the big attraction for the girls. There was a dead deer that had just started to be eaten by something and thereafter by my dogs. We had great difficulty moving the dogs on as here was a feast just begging to be had. Later that afternoon and over the next day all of the dogs at some point sneaked off to the dear and the next day as we walked by It was just a skeleton with a head. The bones had been stripped off the flesh and the next day after that even the head had gone. The efficiency of our local predators plus my dogs ate what must have been around 160 pounds of flesh in just over 2 days. Lela and Kasidi look at least 12 pounds heavier and have had terrible flatulence. They are now on diets and are not impressed that their food has been reduced.

I sometimes marvel at how we have adjusted to living in these wild surroundings, back home there was never anything to worry about in terms of wildlife and of course we did not have the fear of rabies as the UK is rabies free. The dogs are showing the scars of battling with the wildlife. Ruby came back from her walk with a large scratch on her nose the other day and I have no idea where it came from. I remain philosophical though, and will never stop the dogs doing what makes them happy and If something happens to them, well, they were living their life to the full.

Ranger has lost weight and is looking very good at the moment, he is very loyal to me and if I allowed him to he would follow me everywhere. It is going to take someone very special to come along before i let him go to a new home. I will try to get some photo's up of him as soon as the swelling on his nose has gone down.

Dog things

2007-11-17T07:57:00.000-08:00

Saturday 17th Of November.

Last week was not the best of weeks. We appear to have a resident porcupine in the woods near to my house and on three consecutive days Raiza, Kasidi and Lela were"spiked". Ranger managed to get just one in the middle of his lip. Quite how he managed that I can only imagine but It really was very distressing for the dogs having them removed. Everyone has their own idea as to how they should be removed but they way I remove them is to bandage the dogs eyes and top part of the muzzle and remove the big ones with a pair of pliers. The small ones I leave until the next day where I find they are much easier to remove. Obviously if the quills were in the neck region I would take the dog to the vets to have them removed under anesthetic. We have been lucky in that there have not been too many unlike last year when Brewster resembled Santa Claus as he had loads on both sides of his face.

We did not go far this morning on our walk as I could hear gun shots and Lela does not like the sound of guns. We stayed around the property and in our own paddock and the dogs went crazy for the cow manure. Very distasteful, but all dogs seem to view It as a delicacy so I try not to get too upset about It. I think the end of the deer hunting is December 7th and It can't come soon enough for me.

I had to take Olivia to school early this morning and on the main road we saw a hunter cruising on his 4 wheeler with his gun over his shoulder looking for deer. I was so angry to see this, I thought hunting required skill, looking for tracks and waiting patiently in the woods, being at one with nature. Guys like him give the sport a bad name and sadly there seems to be many like him. I really find It very distressing but It is part of living in upstate New York.

Dogs

2007-11-09T15:29:00.000-08:00

Friday 9th November.

Oh dear where has the time gone! This is the time of year that I dread, the approach of hunting season and I just hope It will be a quiet one.Soon the dogs will be wearing their bright orange collars and in some cases their orange jackets. Last year the boys wore the jackets as they tended to be more adventurous but this year I am not so sure and will most probably buy them for the girls also.

Ranger continues to be as good as gold, he is no trouble whatsoever but when Mark comes back next week we will endeavour to find a new home for him. This will be very hard for me and the children as we have become very fond of him but we simply cannot keep him.

Keeping males with females can be quite complicated sometimes especially when one of the girls comes into season. I suspect Lela maybe coming into season quite soon as we had an incident between Brewster and Raiza the other day which was quite unpleasant. Mark and I were in the barn feeding the cows when I heard grumbling. By the time I had reached the dogs It was too late and Brewster and Raiza were involved in a spat. They have had their set too's in the past but this one was particularly loud and I thought quite serious. Jimmy, the man digging up my entire garden with his bulldozer (we have serious flooding and need new drains) watched as mark and I tried to separate them.Raiza was clearly the one in a position of dominance as he had Brewster by the throat and for the first time ever Brewster was crying out. It really was very unsettling and as we managed to seperate them I feared that Brewster would have extensive wounds. To my amazement, on examination, not one mark could be found on Brewster, not even a toothmark. Jimmy shouted to me he half expected Brewsters throat to be missing but apart from saliva, there was nothing.

Later that morning as I was thinking of the whole incident I felt very pleased with how Raiza had reacted. Brewster, although castrated, still behaves as if he is not and is always grumbling at Raiza. Raiza, on the whole ignores him but obviously on this day Raiza decided to show him who was boss. There is no doubt that Raiza could have inflicted serious wounds on Brewster and judging by the noise they were making thats what we thought he was doing, but he didn't. He had him in a hold and was demanding submission without causing injury and I can only be pleased with his restraint.

The amazing thing that I have learned after such incidents is not to seperate them as this only makes the situation worse. They were both put in the utility room and a little while later we went shopping and It was as if nothing had happened at all when we returned and this is always the case.

Someone has asked about beautiful Caesar. When It became clear to me that the American breed standard is unforgiving about the amount of white on the toes, I realised I could not keep him as I have a commitment to breed to the standard , I could have produced puppies with too much white. Soon after making that decision, I received a phone call from a lovely lady called April from Connecticut. She had just lost her old Ridgeback and was looking for a puppy, I suggested she may want to consider Caesar so she made the journey to visit us with her husband and son and after spending a couple of hours with him they decided to take him home. It was a perfect match and he adored her little boy. My last update of him was April may well show him as he has continued to develop beautifully.

Wildfires of California

2007-10-25T04:19:00.000-07:00

Thursday 25th October.

I received this mail from a friend this morning and feel compelled to add It here on the blog. It is an urgent reminder, (too awful to think about) that the animals fleeing the fires need our assistance too.

Horses stand in a pen as fire threatens the Bonita neighborhood yesterday in San Diego, Calif. You can help our response to this disaster -- and others in the future -- by making an emergency gift today. (Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images).

Dear grace,

I want to share with you my blog entry for today on our response to the devastating fires in Southern California. Our involvement during crises affecting animals is just one of the topics I cover on my blog. You'll also find my reaction to news and progress in our movement, my perspective on the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead for animals, and reader feedback on the topics I cover.

The request arrived at the headquarters of the disaster response team at 3:18 p.m. on Monday afternoon.

Within an hour, Dr. Barry Kellogg, veterinarian and acting director of disaster services for The Humane Society of the United States, "pushed the button." Local authorities in San Diego needed our help. Our professionals answered. They shouldered their packs and began the race westward and southward -- trained people bringing trucks, portable clinics, equipment and a devotion to the task. Hundreds more trained disaster responders have been contacted, and they are standing at the ready if a second wave of personnel are needed.

Every second meant greater risk for animals in trouble.

Firestorms were advancing uncontrollably across great swaths of Southern California, displacing tens of thousands, and then hundreds of thousands of people and their pets -- plus an unknown number of farm and wild animals. Although California is no stranger to the autumn cycle of Santa Ana winds and wildfires, this maelstrom stretching from the Mexico border north beyond Los Angeles was like none in memory.

Just slightly more than 12 hours later, the first disaster responders from The HSUS had traversed the continent or come down from our Sacramento office and began assembling in San Diego. They streamed into town by ones and twos all during the day. More arrived through the night, from all corners of the country. On highways from as far away as Florida, The HSUS big rigs rumbled toward California with essential tools and equipment for animal rescue.

By daybreak this morning, virtually our entire front-line disaster team was on station, sleeves rolled up. We also began accepting donations to support our response to the wildfires and future disasters.

You'll understand my soaring pride in these staffers who give so much for the sake of animals.

Some of these disaster responders had returned just days earlier from another deployment to California -- this one to help law enforcement in the largest cockfighting raid in U.S. history. Less than a week before that, we had a crew in Buxton, Maine, helping state officials transport 250 dogs out of the horrors of a puppy mill to a future that promised better lives. At that very same moment, I was in the Gulf Coast with other staffers to launch another phase of our long-standing program to help Louisiana and Mississippi rebuild their animal care facilities in the aftermath of an earlier disaster, Hurricane Katrina.

Friends, it's been quite a couple of weeks in October.

I'll have more to say later about people who give so much. But at the moment my mood is tempered. How many thousands of animals are displaced? Or suffering? What do the vagaries of the Santa Ana winds portend in the next 12, 24 and 48 hours? Will the weather tamp down the flames, or feed their fury?

Some areas hardest hit by these fires are home to families with horses. More than a few were unable to evacuate all their animals. I'm told that sometimes the best that people could do was open the gates and let their horses run free -- to race ahead of towering flames in a sprint for their lives.

I'm glad we can be there to help. I'm so sorry that we have to. If you're able to support our disaster and crisis response work with a special donation today, I and our skilled response teams would be grateful.

Sincerely,
Wayne Pacelle
Wayne Pacelle
President & CEO
The Humane Society of the United States

Copyright © 2007 The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) | All Rights Reserved.
The Humane Society of the United States | 2100 L Street, NW | Washington, DC 20037
humanesociety@hsus.org | 202-452-1100 | humanesociety.org

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Ranger

2007-10-23T16:18:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 23rd October.

There is nothing to report on Ranger other than to say he is a good boy. He has a strong guarding instinct which I am hoping will soften with time. He can be asleep, then all of a sudden be alerted to some tiny little thing ie, seeing the cat at the window,and he is up and barking which of course sets the other dogs off. He also barks at the cows when they approach the bottom part of the paddock, so I am hoping with time he will not feel the need to protect us all.

The weather has been perfect and we have enjoyed beautiful long walks in the woods but today the rain arrived so I suspect the best of the weather is behind us.

I am planning to meet up with one of the pups from Kasidi's litter at the weekend, he was called Hamlet when he was with us but is now called Adia. He is a gentle giant and I can't wait to see him as he has apparently doubled in size since I last saw him.

Ranger

2007-10-18T12:30:00.000-07:00

Thursday 18th October.

I am very pleased with how Ranger has adapted to his new surroundings, more importantly I do believe he is very happy. I worried that he would miss his previous family but I think there is so much happening around him and he is never alone, so he does not have space in his life to pine. He now spends all of his time with the dogs and is getting much better at responding positively when he is called.

I experienced a scary moment this morning. We were all outside for our walk, (non of the dogs were on their leads). As I walked towards my chicken shed to open them up for the day I noticed a large back Labrador stood on the edge of our garden by the woods. The dogs spotted him immediately and chased him into the woods. My heart was racing as the dogs have never been faced with a strange dog on their property before and I was a little nervous as to how they would respond. I quickly regained my composure as there were no loud barking noises or any sounds of aggressive behaviour. I whistled with my fingers half believing they would ignore me but to my great surprise Kasidi returned promptly followed in relatively slow succession by the rest of the dogs. Ranger came behind Kasidi which pleased me enormously and Brewster was the last to come back, but, they all came back and no nastiness was involved. We did not see the dog on our walk, so, I don't know where he came from and I don't know where he disappeared to but I doubt we will see him again. More importantly, I was very pleased with how my dogs behaved.

We are having a deck put up at long last and the builders were very bemused by the Labrador incident. They commented on how amazed they were that yesterday I gave seven bones to seven dogs with no falling out as their experience with their own dogs suggest that this is not possible. I just gave them a look that said oh dear.

I think Ranger has lost a little weight, Its all the playing he is doing with his new playmate Motsi, they really are inseparable at the moment.

Ranger

2007-10-16T11:42:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 16th October.

I feel comfortable leaving Ranger outside with other dogs today, he has acquainted himself with the pigs and is now laid back with the chickens. He has barked at the cows a few times but they are bigger than him and he is not stupid.

A couple of times yesterday he showed signs of wanting to be my protector, he can be asleep one minute then be barking the next if someone enters the room, he let out a low groan this morning when he heard the kids getting up for school .He is fine when he realises whats what but I do not wanting him feeling he has to look out for me, so he will now sleep and hang out with the dogs all of the time. Hopefully he will realise It is not his responsibility to look out for me, he will become an insubordinate member of the pack.

I must do some reading on over protectiveness as I am no expert but I constantly strive to understand the behaviour of my dogs.

The other dogs are looking good and behaving very well, Motsi, given the opportunity, will chew anything in sight. She really has been the worst of my dogs for chewing, no matter how many toys she has, she will find something that she knows she shouldn't have and destroy It.

Ranger

2007-10-15T06:58:00.000-07:00

Monday 15th October.

I took a chance this morning and took all of the dogs together on their walk, it was a delight watching them all interact. Ranger is very unfit and cannot keep up with my dogs, he is clumsy when running through the woods and cannot negotiate obstacles very well such as a broken tree in the path. I am confident he will be whipped into shape in no time.

He slept with me again last night as he started to whine when left with the other dogs, at this stage I have no problem with this as he is having to adjust to a lot of new things all at once. Later I am taking him to my friend Julian who has a Ridgeback called Simm, more playing and running, he is going to be exhausted.

I have lived with big dogs most of my life and Ridgebacks for 21 years and I cannot emphasise enough the importance of exercise. Free running everyday, not just when It suits the owner is essential for physical and psychological welfare of any dog. Ridgebacks are hounds and they need to be allowed to follow their natural instincts which is to use their nose and sight and to run free. The size of the garden is irrelevant. I have 20 acres but my dogs do not venture far from the door. They wait for me to take them out.

I need to work with Ranger on recall, so far, he has shown little enthusiasm for coming to me when called, hopefully he will take his cue from the the other dogs.

Ranger

2007-10-14T08:58:00.000-07:00

Sunday 14th October.

Everything went very well this morning, Ranger slept with me last night and was very good, then this morning he went on his first walk , in this instance with Brewster, Motsi, Kasidi and Lela. Alex and I soon realised there was not going to be a problem so we let Brewster and Ranger off of their leads. They had a good run through the woods and then we came home and repeated the exercise with Raiza and Ruby and unbeknown to me at the time, Mr Smith my cat. Raiza was very interested in Ranger but we sensed not in an aggressive way so we let them off of their leads and they were absolutely fine. Ranger soon became aware that the cat was with us and although he dived at him a couple of times he soon learned that behaviour was unacceptable.

All of the dogs are now in the mud room and Raiza is exhausting himself by constantly playing/mounting Ranger. Castrated dogs have always held an attraction to dogs that are entire and Raiza is no exception, he seems to be in love and is very happy with his new playmate.

So my worries about Ranger coming into our home have, so far have been unfounded, but It is early days and I know from experience that situations can blow up from nowhere. What has pleased me most is Rangers gentle easy going nature.

Ranger

2007-10-13T17:27:00.001-07:00

Saturday 13th October.

Well, Ranger has arrived, and, so far, I am really pleased with the way things have gone. I have not introduced him to the boys yet as that will have to be handled very carefully but he is integrated with the girls. Kasidi was the least welcoming and was aggressive towards towards him in the first instance but has now warmed a little towards him. Ruby basically ignores him and Lela and Motsi think he is great fun. He follows me everywhere and is here by my side as I type.

I am trying to be objective here but he is veryhandsome. He has an incredible front with a prominent prosternum which I love. He is very big, maybe too big, but has balance and will look even better when he has lost a little weight and acquired hardened conditioned muscles. His angulation is very good both front and rear and he has good breadth through his quarters. He has been very gentle, impeccably behaved so far and very loving. My only worry to date is he has not been to the toilet.

So, tomorrow he will come on the walk but we will have Brewster and him on the lead and we will take things step by step. I will leave Raiza at home on this first outing as he is, I think going to be a little more difficult, but I have no doubts that we can integrate Ranger pretty quickly into the pack. He will not pose a threat to Raiza as he is castrated, having said that, he has already humped Lela so he really does take after his dad.

Whatever the outcome for Ranger, I sense already that It will be very difficult for me to part with him , I look at him and see Kasidi and Brewster and love him.

I want to keep him here with me and see how he handles different situations and then, when I think he is ready, I will think about re-homing him, but only to a home that is very well acquainted with this incredible breed.

Dog things

2007-10-12T15:05:00.000-07:00

Friday 12th of October.

Life is pretty much quiet now the pups have gone and the children are all back at school and college.

In the end Raiza did not enjoy his time away from home. He did considerable damage to Karens brand new kennels even though he spent very little time alone in them. Fortunately, Karen was able to have them replaced free of charge from the company she bought them from, so that saved me from huge bill, I would have payed it had I been asked.

I am waiting for Lela to come into season, but also hoping she can hold on until next month as she will need to be X Rayed for hips and elbows as 2 years is the age requirement here in the US. It is 12 months in the UK. She will be 2 at the end of November.

I am very pleased with Lela, she has beautiful construction but has inherited the free flowing movement that is so typical of her mother Kasidi. She really is a dream to watch.

Having bred 5 litters in 5 years, I now have to face something this weekend that I have never faced before and that is taking back a puppy. His name is Ranger and he is a brother to Lela. He was placed with a family with young children who were used to living with large dogs, in this case, Dobermans. Ranger is a very much loved family pet, but has, in the last 12 months, bitten a child in his family and recently bitten a neighbours little boy. Fortunately, they were not serious incidents, but non the less, serious enough to remove him from the family situation.

Mark and I faced a similar situation many years ago with our dog Louis. He was a fabulous dog in many ways but on several occasions in his life he let us down by suddenly lashing out at people by biting them. We had him castrated, sought expert advice from an animal behaviorist, practised dominance training, but nothing could predict his aggressive tendencies. In the end our vet advised putting him to sleep. It was a very difficult decision for us but we had 3 children and our home was often frequented by lots of children and we felt very strongly that he could not be trusted. What made it difficult for us was, we could never pre-empt Louis behaviour, months would go by and he really was the novel dog and then suddenly without warning we would have a situation on our hands.

Rangers family are devastated at having to part with him. He is, by all accounts, very well behaved, good with other dogs and good with adults. He is also a big boy, weighing in at 115 pounds.

He will find life very different here with me, he will be joining a pack where he will be at the bottom of the pecking order. He will also have to get used to my free range chickens, my three cats and my pigs and cows. I hope to keep him here long enough to assess him and will then decide to either re-home him or keep him here with us.

Either way I will monitor his progress here on the blog.

Gorilla's

2007-09-23T08:35:00.000-07:00

Sunday 23rd Of September.

We arrived in Las Vegas last night and will be here until Wednesday night. I have tagged along as Mark has a conference so I will be dog free for five days , I have already rang home a couple of times to make sure the dogs are ok.

Raiza is booked in to my friends new boarding kennels, he is the only resident and will be receiving lots of one to one attention. I will be in contact with Karen by e mail daily and although he cried a little after I left on Friday, I have been told that he has settled in well. I do believe It will be good for him as he is very "clingy" towards me and hopefully this experience will foster some independence.

Kasidi is still with Rachel and we will be reunited next Friday and I have to say we have all missed her greatly and will be relieved to be have her back .

My daughter Olivia has told me on the phone that Motsi caught a rabbit this morning and half ate It before It was taken away from her. My only comment was, we are hoping to cultivate our rabbit population, as at the moment our numbers are dreadfully low, for our falconry purposes. I hope to go out trapping for a passage Redtail Hawk when we return from Vegas and I don't want the dogs depleting our rabbit population, the Coyotes have already successfully done that.

Finally, we have caught on to an ad that is very successful in the UK right now and no.1 on You Tube! It is just fantastic. Some of us will remember the original version. Phil Collins has not aged gracefully.
Click here to watch. Its worth it!

Coccydia

2007-09-16T16:13:00.000-07:00

Sunday 16th September.

I am not a "techy" person and blogs are a new phenomenon to me but my assumption is, they are designed to educate, inform and amuse.

Last week I learned all about Coccidia and hopefully I can pass on a little of what I learned here.

Last Tuesday I received a phone call from Jim who had bought the puppy Neville from me the week before. He told me that Neville had been experiencing diarrhoea so he had taken him to the vets. A test on a stool specimen had revealed that he had coccidia, I had vaguely heard of this as birds of prey can harbour It but I needed to google It before I fully understood what coccidia was. My first response was to let all of my puppy people know that this had happened and to take their puppy to the vet to be tested. I then got in touch with my vet to ask for his advice about testing my dogs.

I will add a link to this page about coccidia but basically it is a protozoa that can live in the gut of dogs without ever showing symptoms, the mother can pass It on to her pups and then at times of stress such as weaning and leaving the nest the puppy will develop symptoms such as mucous in the stool, diarrhoea and blood in the stool. The advice from my vet was to bring a stool specimen from Ruby and the last remaining puppy, Posh for testing.

The next morning It was fairly straight forward obtaining a specimen from Posh and her stool looked completely normal, Ruby, however was a little challenging. Ruby is very discreet when she goes to toilet, she likes to run into the woods for privacy (she would never contemplate the garden). I had an old jam jar for my spec bottle. Every time Ruby made a dash for the woods I would call her back and bless her she came back every time and I could tell she was getting exasperated with me. Eventually we reached the meadow and ruby decided she would provide me with a sample. Once again her specimen looked completely normal. As soon as I got back from the walk I rushed off to Oneonta with my specimens. I had to wait about half an hour for the result and as I did so I contemplated the idea of treating all of my dogs, at least Jim had told had told the treatment cost about $8.

When I was called to the treatment room I was told that Both Ruby and Posh were negative which left me very confused as I really had not expected this. I then asked the vet if the fact that I had free range chickens and a couple of pigs that sometimes associated with the dogs could in anyway have been responsible and he replied most probably not. He advised that the rest of the puppies from the litter be sent stool specs for testing to the lab. I have read in the link that dead mice can harbour coccidia and I do have 3 cats that hunt during the summer and leave dead mice lying around so maybe that is a possible explanation. We all know dogs and we also know they will attempt to eat absolutely anything.

I cannot express how stressful I found the whole experience. I pride myself on my high standards of cleanliness and I worried that I would be seen as some sloppy breeder with dubious practices. I still do not properly understand how this all happened but three puppies showed symptoms of coccidia. Neville, Gerrard and Keane, the rest of the litter have had no symptoms and what makes it confusing is that Ruby was negative. I will re- submit a further specimen to be tested in the near future.

For more information on coccidia go here.

All of the dogs are looking really good right now and Ruby is quickly regaining her shape after her puppies.

I have changed their diet to Evo which I believe is what Nadia and Steve feed their dogs . (They have a sister to Lela and Beckham from this last litter.) Evo is a revolutionary new type of dog food that closely emulates a dogs natural diet ie all meat, no carbs and a little roughage. It is more expensive than Nutro and other premium brands but less food is required so I will be interested to see how they all manage on It. Since the food scare I am now easily persuaded to seek better alternative ways of feeding my dogs.

Ruby's Puppies

2007-09-11T08:55:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 11th of September.

Oh Dear!!!!!!!!!!! Where has the time gone. The pups all did well at the vets and they are all away except for Posh who was a last minute cancellation.

I dont know what it is about people who are attracted to Rhodesian Ridgebacks but we are an incredible bunch of people. My puppies have gone to amazing homes, Rooney is just roughly 75 miles away and is going to be shown which is very exciting.

Neville has gone to a lovely family in CT, Gerrard has gone to PA, Ronaldo is in the Finger Lakes, Venus is in NH,Pandora has gone to Manhattan and Posh will be visited by a family from CT later in the week.

This litter was very wormy this time round and I can only put this down to the puppies being outside for much of the time. Ruby was wormed prior to her mating with Raiza but sometimes It is so hard to keep on top. I wormed Posh for the 5th time yesterday with my favourite preparation, Drontal and this morning I spent nearly $300 on Drontal for the big dogs.

I pick Mark up from Albany Airport tomorrow evening and even though I know he is absolutely swamped with work I am hoping he will update my website as I have taken some beautiful pictures of the dogs and of course my little Motsi is yet to get her own page.

Motsi is not a huge girl, she stands around 25 inches at the shoulder right now but she is very substantial and is a clone of her mother Kasidi, in temperament. Rock solid, mischievous, stubborn, very loving, characteristics we associate with this breed.

Sue Craigie's training manual has been very warmly received by all of my puppy owners, my hope is that the manual will be kept for as long is needed and then returned to me for future puppy owners, but I have no problem if they are kept for reference.

I picked up my copy of Stig Carlsons The Rhodesian Ridgeback Today yesterday and it reminded me of just how good this book is. I highly recommend this book to everyone who either owns or is considering owning a Rhodesian Ridgeback and what was obvious to me was all of the beautiful dogs featured have bone and substance unlike some of the greyhoundy dogs that can be found here in the US.

We had a real crisis here a couple of weeks ago. My neighbour decided to do some target shooting at 7.30 in the morning over labour day weekend. I quickly retrieved Lela as she does not like loud gunfire and has tendency to run into the woods. Just as I put her into the mudroom, a car came up my drive to take my son to work and the rest of the dogs were running out to meet and greet. I went out to organise the other dogs and when I got back Lela was gone. At first I was not concerned as she knows the woods well and they do, after all, start on my garden. By evening I was so distressed as she was not home and I had by this time put out alerts for her. What made it most disressing for me was that Lela out of all of my dogs is very baby like and needy and thought of her out in the woods with Coyotes was unthinkable to me.

I went to bed crying and then around 02.30 I heard a dog barking and quickly realised the dog was outside, I quickly jumped out of bed, ran to the door and called out her name. When I saw the light coming on underneath the garage I knew It was Lela and It was. She came to bed with me and the next morning I fed her appetite, she was very hungry and very thirsty. I was so relieved that she managed to find her way home. We have miles and miles of woods and I do not know where she went but she had the good sense to find her way home, thank goodness.

So we are back to normal almost which is a relief as the summer was very hectic.

Ruby's Puppies

2007-08-26T10:07:00.000-07:00

Sunday 26th August.

When we moved to the US I decided not to register Ruby with the AKC as there was no reason to do so, when I decided to take another litter from her I obviously had to in order for her puppies to be registrable. I did this about 3 weeks ago thinking I was well within the timeframe of the puppies leaving to go to their new homes as usually It is very efficient. When her document arrived It said that foreign dogs now have to be on the DNA database for litters to be registrable so I applied for the DNA pack and took swabs from Ruby, Raiza because he will be my stud dog and Lela. I fully support the database as It is a sure way of identifying a dogs identity. Sadly there are breeders who are not always truthful about the dog on the pedigree and this is a way of knowing for sure the parentage of the dog. I just hope this does not delay my puppy litter registration.

The puppies continue to do well and are becoming quite independent when they are outside which is most of the time. They will go to the vets next Tuesday and Thursday for their medical.

I behaved like an over anxious mother on Friday, I though Posh had a chest infection. When I went to the puppies first thing as I always do to clean up (not for the faint hearted) and give them their breakfast I noticed that she was coughing and her I thought her chest sounded rattly so at 8 am I made an emergency appt and took her to the vets. I felt a little silly because by the time she arrived she was absolutely fine, temp normal, chest clear and no coughing and we decided that perhaps she choked a little on her breakfast. Still, I would rather be safe than sorry.

I can't believe that some of the puppies will be leaving in about weeks time, It has gone so quickly.

Kasidi has come into season so she will be going to my friend Rachel who has kindly agreed to take her. This will avoid fall out from the boys. I don't know if Lela if will come into season soon, she usualy does, so I will have to decide whether to breed from her or wait until next year.

Other things

2007-08-17T16:41:00.000-07:00

Friday 17th Of August.

Two things happened yesterday which are worth mentioning, firstly Mark accidentally let the pigs out of the paddock, which is no big deal other than they dig up the turf with their rooting and make a terrible mess of the garden and secondly we were woken up in the night by the howling of Coyotes.

We decided to allow Wilbur and Angela our pet pigs to run with chickens and dogs yesterday as they do love the freedom to do as they please. They are used to this in the winter when the ground is frozen as they do less damage to the grass. Last night they settled with the chickens in their shed and again we were happy to let them do this thinking we could could put them back in the paddock this morning.

During the night we were suddenly awakened by the howl of coyotes and believe me they sounded as if they were underneath our bedroom window and I was petrified. To the native upstater maybe the sound of coyotes is pretty much the norm, but in the 2 years that we have been here we have never heard them and we have always put this down to our dogs marking their territory also a reason for our chickens free ranging with no problems. Last night, as I lay in bed listening to the most primitive of dog sounds, I was relieved that Angela and Wilbur were safely locked up with the chickens. They usually have the barn and around 8 acres of pasture within an electric fenced in area but last night I felt nobody was safe from those Coyotes. What was also interesting is , not one of the dogs barked, Mark insists this was because the Coyotes were on our neighbours property and only sounded as If they were beneath us, all I know is i was very frightened.

This morning, as we got ready for our walk with the dogs,the pigs made it quite clear that they wanted to join us. They have accompanied us in the past but they were only babies, now they are fully mature. Wilbur, who, in his maturity looks very much like a wild boar, but so very gentle and loving and Angela who looks more rotund by the day were really quite excited. So we set off for the woods with 5 Ridgebacks and 2 pigs and what a lovely sight it was. Motsi was left behind as I did not want her over doing it on the exercise front as she tends to go mad when she is out with the big dogs.

Mark has updated the site with pics from today and yesterday and as ever the pups are adorable. They are all with their mum as I type on a duvet downstairs, the older ones choosing to be in the utility room.

Ruby

2007-08-13T16:40:00.000-07:00

Monday 13th Of August.

Ruby has recovered remarkably well, there is no lumpiness at all and she continues to give the puppies a day and night time feed. She loves It when we go in and play with her puppies, infact she gets really excited.

The puppies remind us of those little wind up dogs, they are big bellies on little legs at the moment. One of my fears has been that when they are in the garden, one of the chickens will come up and peck them. well, I can lay that fear to rest as this afternoon Ronaldo chased one of them and seemed to be very much in control. He is the most adventurous out of all of the puppies at this time but they are all so incredibly sweet.

My friend Rachel adores kasidi and since my visit to England a couple of months ago when Rachel looked after her, she has, from time to time, taken Kasidi away for a couple of days for a 'little holiday" Kasidi is always very happy to go and enjoys the one to one attention but she is also very happy to come back home. She also goes to work with Rachel to her picture framing shop in Delhi and Kasidi is always a big hit with the customers who quite simply, love her. I am pleased that Kasidi is able to show herself to be a wonderful example of the breed to the many customers who frequent Rachels shop.

Tomorrow will be another day of worming, nail clipping and hopefully photos for the website.

Ruby

2007-08-10T08:55:00.000-07:00

Friday 10th Of August.

I managed to get ruby in to the vets for 10.30 this morning which was a relief and yes she has mastitis. The doctor prescribed Clavamox 5oomg twice daily for 2 weeks and I am to put warm towels on the affected area 3 times day to encourage the removal of pus. She did not have a temperature and overall is not sick so hopefully we have caught this just in time. She is now back with her pups who are relieving the pressure from her swollen milk glands. I am gradually weaning them off of Ruby who up till now has done a superb job with her pups.

The puppies will not be able to go outside today as we are forecast rain all day, which is a shame as they are much better off outside. All of the dogs were wet through after there walk this morning so It is rather "pongy" in my mud room and utility room.

I am confident that Ruby will be ok, I was a little panicked last night, but the fact her temperature is normal ,is, I think, a good sign.

Ruby

2007-08-09T19:21:00.000-07:00

Thursday 8th Of August.

Tonight I noticed that one of Ruby's teats looked swollen, on closer inspection I can say with certainty she has an infective mastitis. Already an opening is developing and I was able to squeeze out pus. Fortunately I have clavamox in the cupboard so I gave her 500mg and I will get her into the vets as an emergency in the morning. I don't know if this would be the antibiotic of choice but It is a broad spectrum anti biotic and I felt she had to be started on something.

This time last year I spent time reassuring my friend and Kasidi's breeder Liz, who was very distressed when her bitch developed an infective masititis and it definitely got worse before it got better. The temptation to let Ruby sleep with other dogs tonight was very strong but she has to keep feeding, I remember Liz being told this by her vet in England.

Ruby has given me no indication that she was developing a problem and I just hope for her sake we can get it sorted quickly. Maybe if she was a little more complaining and me a little more attentive, we could have prevented this.

Ruby's Puppies

2007-08-08T10:02:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 8 th Of August.

Yesterday and today I put the puppies outside in a fenced area mainly to escape the fly's as they are driving us all crazy. At least outside the constant breeze seems to keep them away from the puppies.

I cut the pups nails again yesterday as they had very quickly become little razors, I like to think It will get them used to having their nails cut but sadly in my case and as far as my dogs are concerned this one little grooming measure has become a nightmare and I know I am the one to blame. Kasidi will howl out at the sight of a pair of nail clippers before they get anywhere near her toes. So please prospective puppy owners get into a routine of getting your dogs nails cut preferably on a weekly basis, even if they do not need it, just touch the nails with clippers and then reward with a treat.

We have those screens up at the doors to keep out the bugs, last year Raiza damaged one of them as he was always whining to come in but the other day he went one better, he just took a run and barged right through, so now we have a screen with huge tear in it that lets all of the bugs in. Raiza has never been very subtle.

The puppies could be independent of Ruby now if Ruby wished as they are very adept at eating and drinking. It is lovely to see them outside in the fresh air with the big dogs guarding them, something very novel for me as I am used to winter puppies and cleaning up is so much easier.

Ruby's Puppies

2007-08-06T09:20:00.000-07:00

Monday 6th of August.

When the puppies were born, Ronaldo appeared to have a perfect ridge, we then decided he had a crown missing, making 2 pet puppies in the litter. Today Olivia was changing their collars and noticed that he does infact have 2 crowns, albeit small ones so we have 8 pups with perfect ridges.

Within a day of introducing solids they were receiving 3 meals a day, a combination of raw beef mince and puppy kibble and they consume It with relish. They are also lapping easily, both water and milk ,so Ruby can now ease off on the feeding ,which suits her, as her interest is waning ,as I knew It would.

The puppies are up on their feet now and playing with one another while they are awake, they are also showing all of the characteristics of little dogs ie, scratching themselves like dogs do.

The weather has cooled off which is a blessing as It was too hot last week.

I have not weighed the puppies but they are all plonking on the weight and some of the boys are looking really big, but experience has taught me that they will all even out in size over the next couple of weeks as genetics determines their ultimate size not who is most adept at getting to the milk.

Ruby's Puppies

2007-08-01T16:32:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 1st August.

A huge apology for the pause but we have been experiencing major problems with our internet connection which is woeful at the best of times.

The puppies have entered that new phase where they are much more aware and respond to verbal and visual stimulation. They are so funny, they attempt to play with one another but fall over as they do not have the strength in their little bodies to support themselves for long.

My main concern is keeping them cool as we are having very hot ( for us anyway ) weather and tomorrow is going to be around 90 also.

When he was 15 days old we caught sight of Beckham leaning into Ruby's food bowl eating the remains of her dinner, so today I went out and bought puppy kibble, ground beef and milk replacer and tomorrow will be the day when they are introduced to raw meat.

I have been keeping their nails trimmed as they very quickly become extremely sharp and I will worm them for the first time tomorrow.

Motsi would spend all of her time in the whelping box if I allowed It. It is amazing to see this overwhelming desire to nurture even though she is a puppy herself. Ruby has been very good and If I know ruby like I think I do she will be very happy to hand over the responsibility of her puppies to someone else once they show signs of independence. Kasidi on the other hand is a little more wary of the young puppies but is wonderful as they become a little older.

Raiza shows very little interest in the puppies, whereas there was a time , when he was a youngster, when he too was very enthusiastic to muck in and help.

It is strange how things turn out, we had 6 boys in this litter and most of my enquiry's have been for boys. Just as well really.

Ruby's Puppies

2007-07-24T07:50:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 24th Of July.

I was a little concerned with the puppies yesterday, they had been whiny during the night and were still unsettled yesterday. I think the hot weather was not helping and I suspected that some of them had upset stomachs but this was hard to confirm as Ruby keeps the puppies so clean. So I stayed close yesterday watching for any signs of deterioration but I am pleased to say they became more settled as the day went on.

This morning the pups are a picture of contentment and their eyes are open.

Ruby has an excellent appetite and I am now able to feed her dog food as she is so ravenous. She comes out of the box once her pups are fed and asleep which is really good for her psychological well being as is her daily walk.

Mark arrives back from England tonight so I will be able to badger him with updated photos for the website.

Ruby's Puppies

2007-07-21T19:05:00.000-07:00

Saturday 21st July.

Ruby became quite excited this morning when I got up from drinking my tea, she knew I was getting ready to go out with the dogs and she made it quite clear that she was ready to come too. I didn't think she would come on the entire walk but she did and she had a wonderful time.

I weighed some of the puppies half heartedly today but to be honest, they are so big and plump I do not need the scales to tell me what is obvious, and that is, these puppies are thriving. A couple of the boys are over 2 pounds and the girls are approaching 2 pounds.

Ruby is the best of mothers and my fears of maybe that at 6 she was a little too old have been well and truly laid to rest. She looks very vibrant and healthy and she keeps her pups in impeccable condition. I am pleased to say that her appetite has improved as the pups are clearly are taking a lot from her.

Venus is already showing signs that her eyes will be opening soon, so the other puppies will follow and this, for us , is always an exciting part of their development.

I checked everyone for dermoid sinus again today. Tomorrow the pups will have their nails clipped for the first time as I noticed today they are getting quite sharp.

Ruby's Puppies

2007-07-18T15:32:00.000-07:00

Wednesday !8th July.

The puppies are plumping up now and are doing really well as is their mum Ruby. The average weight gain was 5oz. Beckham is the largest puppy at 1.14lb followed by Rooney at 1.13lb. Venus is the smallest at 1.6lb but she has gained 40z in the last 2 days.

The weather has cooled off a little which is much kinder for Ruby.

Ruby remains very fussy about her food which seems to be the norm when my girls have pups and so, she is being fed raw minced beef, chicken, pasta,rice tuna, mackerel and cheese and whatever veg we have left over. Every night Ruby awakens me around 3 am to go out for the toilet. Its amazing, but I hear her feet on the floor the moment she steps out of the whelping box. My problem, is I then find It hard to get back to sleep but never mind.

Ozzy is still profoundly interested in the puppies and ventures into the box whenever he can but I am trying to limit this for the time being although Ruby is very tolerant.

Yes, this is the easy phase of having puppies as mum does all the work, I just spend too much time watching them.

Ruby's Puppies

2007-07-16T17:56:00.000-07:00

Monday 16th Of July.

Saturday and into Sunday was quite difficult for Ruby. The effects of oxytocin amongst other things is to contract the uterus down and I know from my own "after pains" after childbirth, It can be very painful. My experience with Kasidi and Ruby is It makes them pant and so gives the impression that another puppy is about to be born. This is a little disconcerting and certainly uncomfortable for the dog but I am pleased to say that these effects have now passed and Ruby seems to be doing very well. I am monitoring her temperature daily for signs of infection.

All puppies were checked for dermoid sinus.

We weighed the puppies this morning and all had gained weight, some more than others.

Beckham had gained 2oz making him 1lb 8oz.

Venus had gained 1oz making her 1lb.2oz.

Posh had gained 2oz making hr 1lb. 4oz.

Rooney had gained 4oz making him 1lb.8oz.

Gerrard had gained 1oz making him 1lb.5oz.

Neville had gained 1oz making him1lb.3oz.

Pandora had gained 4oz making her 1lb.3oz.

Ronaldo had gained 1oz making him 1lb.4oz.

Keane had gained 2oz making him1lb.5oz.

Ruby's Puppies

2007-07-14T13:23:00.001-07:00

Saturday 14th, July.

Ruby is very stoic, she quietly gets on with her labour and is no trouble at all. It is hard to detect just how far she is with her labour because of this.

These puppies are early. As Ruby only had one mating I can be sure of this and so, for the first time, we have some light puppies. Pandora is long but at 15 ounces needs to fatten up and the other two girls weigh just over one pound. As my son Alex pointed out, their weight on monday will be more of what we are used to in terms of newborn puppies.

Ruby is so quick at eating placentas that although I have recorded them as not delivered I am pretty sure she ate most of them and in view of the fact that she has not been eating well over the last few days I am very happy about this.

The puppies came very quickly at first, six being delivered within 3 hours and then things really slowed down. Puppy number 7 arrived over 3 hours after number 6 and was breach At around 09.10 I examined Ruby and could not feel more than one puppy but her abdomen was hard and palpation was very difficult. Kasidi always had a soft abdomen. I had seen 8 puppies on the X Ray but 9 was always a possibility, so It was at this point Igave her 1ml of oxytocin as I felt her uterus was clearly giving up. She delivered the 8th puppy about 20 minutes later. After much angst I decided to give another half ml of oxytocin to deliver the retained placentas and that is when she delivered puppy number 9 which I have to say was a complete surprise.

I am not happy at being left to make these decisions but I do find the service of veterinary care at weekends and out of hours to be pretty shocking. When I lived in the Scottish Borders we were more rural than here in the Catskills but a vet was always available locally if needed.

All puppies have no kinks in their tails and have minimal white.

At 12:10 first puppy was born, a dog named Beckham. perfect ridge, and placenta delivered. His weight was 1.6oz and first check for dermoid sinus was clear.

At 12:42 am the second puppy was born, a bitch named Venus. She has an extra crown and a placenta delivered. her weight was 1.1oz and the first check for dermoid sinus was clear.

At 12:44am the third puppy was born, another bitched named Posh. She has a perfect ridge and no placenta delivered. Her weight was 1.2oz and the first check for dermoid sinus was clear.

At 2:04am the fourth puppy was born, a dog named Rooney. He has a perfect ridge and no placenta delivered. His weight was 1.4oz and the first check for dermoid sinus was clear.

At 2:25 am the fifth puppy, a dog named Gerrard was born. He has a perfect ridge and no placenta delivered. His weight was 1.4oz and the first check for dermoid sinus was clear.

At 3:00 am the sixth puppy was born, a dog named Neville. He has a perfect ridge and no placenta delivered. His weight was 1.2oz and the first check for dermoid sinus was clear.

At 6:40am the seventh puppy was born, a bitch named Pandora. She has a perfect ridge and no placenta delivered. Her weight was 15oz and the first check for dermoid sinus was clear.

At 9:30am the eighth puppy was delivered and dog named Ronaldo. He has a crown missing and no placenta delivered. His weight was 1.3oz and the first check for dermoid sinus was clear.

At 10:am the ninth puppy was born a dog named Keane. He has a perfect ridge and a placenta was delivered. His weight was 1.3oz and the first check for dermoid sinus was clear.

Mum and pups are doing well.

Ruby

2007-07-13T13:48:00.000-07:00

At 02.20 this morning I was awakened by a big sloppy kiss from Ruby, thinking nothing of it I tried to get back to sleep but Ruby's heavy breathing prevented me from doing so, so I quietly said "Ruby out" and she quietly left.

This morning I entered the leaving room to find a huge puddle of water and Ruby panting. Labour had started and I was left feeling very guilty,my beautiful Ruby had given me a sign and because I was not expecting puppies until the beginning of next week I had failed to take notice. As It happens, I am glad I slept through the early stages as we are now approaching 5pm and still no puppies, so we are in for a long night.

I had Ruby X Rayed on Tuesday and we saw 8 maybe 9 puppies so we are all very excited, Olivia my daughter is relieved that nothing has happened as she was at a Shakespeare workshop today and she is after all my right hand man where whelping is concerned. I have made a big pan of soup and feel totally prepared for the big event.

I have always been able to predict the "type" of puppy I have whelped so far as Dempsey and Brewster have produced similar puppies with excellent ridges. I am now venturing into the unknown as this will be Raiza's first litter, but they should be substantial puppies with good bone and substance and very "typey"

Ruby is so different to Kasidi in that she quietly gets on with her labour and she always has a strong urge to nest outside, so we have to be very vigilant when she goes outside to the toilet.

Will update through out the night.

Dog things

2007-06-29T05:32:00.000-07:00

Friday 29th June.

I was very proud of Ozzy at puppy classes the other evening, we always start the class with 15 minutes of socialisation where the pups are off of the lead and free to run around. There is one particular pup, a curly coated retriever who humps everything in sight but particularly singles out Ozzy. Ozzy tolerates it, but on Monday he had clearly had enough, he stepped out from his position and was able to pin the retriever down and hold him there all without any sign of aggression. It was quite fascinating to watch and as the class leader said, left to their own devices they will sort things out themselves. The retriever, when allowed to go by Ozzy, skulked off to his owner. He only lasted 5 minutes though and was soon running round humping everything in sight again.

Ozzy, taking after his dad, has also mastered the art of stealing eggs from the chicken shed so we are all watchful and I think it explains why he is looking a little heavy right now. I am hoping Mark will find some time to start their own pages on the website but as usual he is really busy at the moment.

Ruby is enjoying the cooler weather right now, she still enjoys her walks but is not so keen to go running through the woods, preferring to stay by me.

Motsi is teething and chewing everything she can get her teeth into which is usually my furniture but she remains adorable and great fun to be with. She takes after her mum in that she can be very naughty, Ozzy, on the other hand is very laid back and very well behaved at this moment in time.

We had Adea's ( Hamlet) family over for a BBQ last weekend and a good time was had by all. The pups and Kasidi were very happy to see him as was Brewster. He has become very playful with the puppies since his castration, bless him.

I will go to Bainbridge dog show on Saturday to see the Ridgebacks, had I been organised I would have entered one of the dogs,but I will take the pups and maybe Kasidi to get them out and about.

Dog things

2007-06-22T09:25:00.000-07:00

Friday 22nd June.

I arrived back on Monday night and the first thing I noticed was the change in shape in Ruby and judging by her voracious appetite for anything raw, I think it can be safely assumed she is pregnant. During her last pregnancy three and a half years ago, she caught and ate a rabbit (fur as well) two days before her puppies were born. Raw meat is definitely her craving.

It was wonderful coming home to the dogs especially the two puppies who I have decided to keep. Caesar will be called Ozymandias (Ozzy for short)

During the first weekend of my stay in England I went along to the Rhodesian Ridgeback Club Of Great Britains open show . It was so good meeting up with friends but even more so, seeing the dogs. There must have been over 100 Ridgebacks and what struck me was the bone and substance of all of the dogs. Ridgebacks in the US tend to be finer somehow than their European counterparts and I think, for the showring, the British dogs are kept a little heavier, they were though, magnificent.

It would seem that some vets back home are now recommending early castration too, but non of the breeders I spoke to support this, so It is interesting that this clash is developing.

I now have 10 copies of the superb Imbali way of training the Ridgeback puppy so If anyone is interested in obtaining a copy I will be more than happy to send one through the post. All I ask is that you send It back to me when you have finished with it.

Kasidi stayed with my friend Rachel while I was away, mainly because Rachel loves her so much and relished the idea of having her for a couple of weeks. She accompanied Rachel to her picture framing shop in Delhi everyday and I believe she is now the toast of the town. I think Rachel secretly hoped that she would get to keep her but we could never consider such a thing. It was good for the puppies, I think, to have some independence from their mum, but boy, were they all pleased to be reunited. I had to put the puppies in their crate as the play became very bostrious. Even Brewster surpassed himself, who since his castration, now plays with the pups all of the time.

I am very excited for Ruby as she has always been a superb mother and she has always tended Kasidi's puppies and as for Raiza, well, we are pleased he had It in him as we were begining to worry. The pups will be due around the 16th of July, and for me, It will be the first summer litter which will make everything so much easier.

Dog things

2007-06-03T18:46:00.000-07:00

Sunday 3rd June.

One of the most difficult aspects of having a litter of puppies is finding loving homes that you know will provide forever care for your puppies. I have, so far, been incredibly lucky and following my gut instincthave found wonderful homes for my puppies.

Paris and Caesar were due to leave on Saturday but I was having growing concerns for Caesar as I felt his new would be owner was showing very little commitment. I spoke to Mark early that morning about my fears and then I received a phone call at 08.30 from the would be owner to say he would not be coming. The relief I felt was over whelming.

Paris on the other hand was able to socialise with her new family for a couple of hours and showed such tenderness towards Carter and Jack the two little boys from her new family that I felt very proud of her. She will be living not too far away, so we will be able to see her from time to time.

I have been in touch with Sue Cragie ( Imbali Rhodesian Ridgebacks) about her excellent training manual "Raising the Rhodesian Ridgeback Puppy" and I am purchasing 10 copies which she will send to my parents home and I will bring them back with me.

I thought, rather than create my own page on my website, I would create a library system where copies are available for anyone purchasing a puppy from me. I can thoroughly recommend a visit to Sues site, she can be found by googling Imbali Rhodesian Ridgebacks.

I leave for England in the morning, a trip I am not really looking forward to as my dad has recently been diagnosed with cancer of the bowel and he is scheduled for surgery on Tuesday. I was supposed to be going out In August to celebrate his 80th birthday, a trip I still hope to make.

Mark arrives Tuesday to rule the roost and he is booked in for puppy classes that start Wednesday so he will have his hands full.

I hope to add entries to my blog and will report back from the GB Rhodesian Ridgeback Club show nextweekend.

Dog things

2007-05-31T15:09:00.000-07:00

Thursday 31st may.

Yesterday I was outside watering the cows when I heard a cufuffle (new word) in my chicken shed. My one eyed chicken, Lucy, ran, squarking ( maybe another new word, I'm not sure coz I have had 2 glasses of wine) and I wondered what was up setting her. Hot on her heels was Brewster and he obviously had something in his mouth. I called him and issued the command "drop It" he promptly obeyed and dropped a beautiful blue egg onto the ground. (Lucy lays blue eggs) What is so funny is I often feed the dogs raw eggs into their dinner and Brewster thought he would just help himself. How could I be cross, he was showing independent thought, something this breed is famous for.

Dog things

2007-05-30T09:56:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 30th May.

The castration issue is really bugging me at the moment as 16 weeks seems terribly early to have any dog castrated, they are, after all, still babies.

I have been in touch with my friend and Kasidi's breeder in England and she too was appalled when she heard 16 weeks is the age vets are recommending for castration/neutering. She told me her vet would not suggest such an early age. I was always told by vets in the Uk that it is best for the bitches to have a season first and with Ridgebacks this can be as old as 15 months. As for the dogs....... Why do we castrate them?

Marking, mounting, wandering, aggressive tendencies towards other male dogs are reasons to have a dog castrated and these are pretty good reasons especially if the dog is living with a young family in an urban environment. I have no arguement with any of these reasons and of course if a bitch nearby comes into season then it can be an extremely difficult situation. Where I struggle is the age. My experience of 21 years with this breed and German Shepherds growing up is many of these tendencies do not appear until 9-12 months and in some cases they never appear. Raiza springs to mind, yes, he cocks his leg and marks his spot but this has never been a problem. My neighbours who live close by have a wonderful Ridgeback called Sim who is 2 and a half, a lovely gentle boy and he is intact. He lives a double life in that half of his time is spent in Manhattan and the other half up here in the Catskills. He has never presented his owners with any problems.

I have to go to England on Monday and I will be attending the Rhodesian Ridgeback Club of Great Britains open show so It will be interesting to discover thoughts from other breeders.

Dog things

2007-05-28T07:29:00.000-07:00

Monday 28th May.

It is well documented that Ridgebacks have the ability to jump high fences from a standstill position. I have never had a jumper until now.

A couple of weeks ago Mark and I created a compound for the dogs. It used the side of our barn and two sides of the electric fence from our paddock. We installed, for the front end and gate, one of those wire kennels that can be found at Tractor supply and are seen just about everywhere.

It must be about 7 feet high. Anyway we don't use it very often but when we do Lela always manages to get out. I assumed she was sacrificing being nipped by the fence in order to get out, that was until Saturday. I could not believe my eyes when I saw Lela from a standing position, look up, jump and scale the fence with very little effort. She sort of balanced herself on the top of the fence and then flipped her self over. The ease with she managed to get out was incredible. Fortunately Lela does not wander and we only created it to have somewhere to put the dogs occasionally so I am not too upset.

Sam, Alex and myself went to Unadilla yesterday for a BBQ with the family of Hamlet now known as Adia and Puck now known as Kinta. We took Motsi, Caesar and Paris and had a truly wonderful time. It was so rewarding for me seeing all of the puppies get together and play. They were well and truly shattered when we got home and are still tired this morning.

Very disturbing for me was hearing about the experience Kinta's family had with the vet when they took him for his rabies vaccination. They were told that they had a month to "get him sorted" and they were told to hold his jaw shut and stare at him for a couple of minutes to exert dominance. This exercise was to be repeated several times a day. To say I was angry with this advice is an under statement and I would love to know what needs to be sorted in a month. They were also advised to have him castrated at 4 months. I could start a new blog on both of these issues but I have decided to create a page on my website that offers help and advice on training the Rhodesian Ridgeback. Yes, It is very important to establish alpha status with a new puppy but Rhodesian Ridgebacks are very sensitive dogs and certainly do not respond to harsh over the top treatment. They also have incredible memories.

Regarding castration at 4 months. I simply do not understand why 4 months is the recommended age. I pointed out to Charlie., Kinta's owner that male dogs rely on Testosterone to develop muscle and the powerful build that essentially makes them male. Castrate them at such an early age and this development is denied.

One of the bitches from Kasidi's first litter was spayed at 4 months and now has problems with incontinence. I am sure that 4 months is not the recommended age for spay/neutering in the UK but I will check this out and report back.

Dog things

2007-05-24T18:09:00.000-07:00

Thursday 24th May.

We all have our favourite puppies, mine was Caesar, the boys Ariel and Olivia's was always Hermione but these are emotional bonds and cannot be used when selecting a puppy to complement ones breeding programme. I had decided to keep Caesar knowing full well that he could not be used on any of my bitches and then a man named Frank who I have been communicating with over the last month asked if he could have him. Fortunately for me, he does not live too far away and he and his family holiday here in the Catskills, so I might get to see him from time to time but I was shocked at the sense of loss I felt when I made the decision to let him go. I will keep him until next Saturday andI know It will be a very sad day for me.

Yesterday I took Caesar and Motsi to town to expose them to the traffic etc and get them used to walking along the pavements and I was very proud of them. There is no doubt that the Rhodesian Ridgeback always attracts attention on the street and puppies even more so. They are so strikingly beautiful and proud. I remember many years ago when my dad had the brother to Joshua, my first Ridgeback. He would take Jed to town, mum would go shopping and dad would find a seat, sit back and just enjoy all of the attention his beautiful dog attracted. We have made so many friends over the years by being out and about with our dogs.

The weather has been very hot but the dogs seem to be enjoying the sun. I have started walking them earlier in the morning as It is a little cooler and they have much more energy first thing.

I keep looking for signs with Ruby but I know from experience that with her, It is very hard to tell. When she was pregnant with her second litter, I took her to my vet in Scotland for an ultra sound scan. My vet who was reaching retirement took one look at her and announced that she could not possibly be in whelp. The scan revealed around 9 puppies yet she she showed no signs what so ever. She went on to produce 9 puppies about 3 weeks later.

Dog things

2007-05-20T17:43:00.000-07:00

Sunday 20th May.

I remember my vet in Scotland once saying to me that not all dogs have the natural instinct to mate. This was never the case with Brewster but It certainly was with Raiza.

Ruby came into season and once again Raiza, clearly exasperated, had no idea what to do and I have to confess neither did I. So last Sunday before I was due to take Mark to the airport we did our best to help Raiza along. We were not very successful but I like to think we gave Raiza a clue as to what was expected of him.

The following day my eldest son was horrified when I asked him if he would help me with the dogs. We positioned Ruby over a large container to support her tummy and then helped Raiza along and in the end we managed a mating with 15 minute tie. Sam was acutely embarrassed when the school bus went by but I was just relieved that Raiza had eventually been able to do his job.

I am not holding out much hope for success as I am not sure if Ruby was past her peak but I am relieved that Raiza was able to do what he did as he so important to my plans for the future.

I will have Ruby scanned at the appropriate time to see if she is in whelp.

Brewster is recovering well from his operations and was certainly easier to manage while his mother was in season. He has always been a faithful companion but now I have broken all of my self imposed rules and he sleeps with me at night. I was very surprised that Mark did not mind this new arrangement but we both accept that Brewster has always been very special as he was our first bred dog and he has produced 2 beautiful litters with Kasidi.

Hamlet leaves tomorrow with his new family as they have now returned from Italy but It will not be a sad farewell as he will not be too far and we will be keeping in touch. He is a lovely gentle boy and I know he is going to have a wonderful life.

Our puppy is still un-named but her pedigree name will be loveness Motsi after my Zimbabwean friend from my nurse training days. What her pet name will be is still up for discussion as my children seem to dislike everything I suggest but I think Motsi is the obvious choice. I seem to remember them responding this way when I named Raiza but I stuck to my guns so maybe that is what I should be doing now.

We still have Caesar and after setting him up today I have almost convinced myself to keep him as he is so beautiful. I keep blowing hot and cold as I know It will be hard work and I will definitely have to alter the way I walk the dogs in that I cant walk through the woods every day with 7 Ridgebacks .

Kasidi is on a reducing diet as once again I seem to have misjudged her dietary requirements and her moulting makes her look quite bedraggled . When she is moulting she takes on the appearance of a blotchy leopard and looks quite untidy but I know it will soon pass.

We received pictures of Hermione now known as Inca today and they are quite stunning. She is such a beautiful puppy and has already had loads of exposure to the big wide world.

kasidi's puppies

2007-05-03T09:50:00.000-07:00

Thursday 3rd May.

I made a huge decision concerning Brewster last week. He was due to go to the vets to have his anal sacs removed on Tuesday and after much consideration I decided to have him castrated at the same time. From a management point of view It made sense as I have his mother and two of his daughters and I did not want any accidents happening. If we had kennels It would be manageable, but our dogs live with us and it would have been too stressful for all concerned. He has produced two beautiful litters with Kasidi and so now, the baton has been handed to Raiza.

We still have Caesar and Paris and I am holding on to Hamlet until the end of May so It is all go all of the time. Having said that we are really enjoying the pups right now as the weather is glorious and Kasidi is now spending quality time with them. She has become this big puppy herself and is constantly running around with toys in her mouth enticing the pups to chase her.

Ruby should peak next week, so It will be interesting to see how Raiza responds. He still sits on my knee in the evening. In his head he is still a baby but occupying a large body.

Ariel traveled to LA business class on Tuesday and was very well behaved until the food was served and then apparently every one knew there was a puppy on board. Kent, her new owner had to fib about her weight as she was a couple of pounds over the limit. Her new name is very posh. She is now known as Lucinda.

We have not named Phebe yet but we all like Hermione, I wanted to call her Niamah, pronounced Neev, but non of the children would contemplate this so I had to relent.

My friend in the UK and Kasidi's breeder has named her new puppy Khaos, which we all love. I might have to muster up the courage to ask Liz if we can use it also as It is a superb name for a Ridgeback.

kasisi's puppies

2007-04-25T15:18:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 25th April

We have had no internet connection for three days and I cannot express in words how frustrating I found this. For some one who did not know where the on button was a couple of years ago this is mighty progress.

Anyway, the remaining puppies are now developing their individual personalities and are delightful. Ariel leaves on Saturday and will go to LA on Tuesday.

Hamlet has been chosen by a wonderful family from New Jersey who have a second home in this area and will live very close to Macbeth. This is fabulous news for me as I will be close to two of the puppies.

After a lot of consideration I have decided to keep Phebe and surprisingly Mark did not threaten me with divorce, so now we are trying to find a name that suits her extrovert personality. This means that beautiful Caesar is yet to find a home and to be honest I am in no rush to see him go. The luxury of not having to work leaves me with plenty of time to look after the pups and It is interesting for me to see how he develops.

Ruby is very frisky at the moment so this could be a sign that she is coming into season. I am praying that Raiza will be up to the job but only time will tell. If it doesn't work out then that will be the end of Ruby's breeding life as next year she will be too old.

kasisi's puppies

2007-04-20T07:26:00.000-07:00

Friday 20th April.

Yesterday Olivia and I set off for Albany airport with Romeo, destination, Memphis. It is about an hour and a half to the airport and most puppies will be sick at some point during the journey, so It is always a worry to me how much I should feed them or if I am to feed them at all. I decided to give Romeo milk and nothing else. As it happened he was the perfect traveler and slept the entire journey on top of a pillow and was not sick once. We offered him food once we reached the airport but he declined. It is always a worrying time when a puppy is being shipped ,but experience with my last litter taught me that the puppies manage well and do not seem too traumatised by the experience. Feedback from Romeo's new family suggests he took it all in his stride and settled in remarkably quickly. I do have some lovely photographs which hopefuly will appear on the website later on today. Kind permission from Terri will be sought first. Romeo is now known as Max.

As for the remaining puppies, they are now enjoying the long overdue sunshine and spent nearly 6 hours outside yesterday. Mark doesn't know this, but I am watching Caesar and Phebe very closely. Ariel leaves with her new family next weekend and will spend her time between New York and Los Angeles, yet again, a glamourous lifestyle.

The big dogs are enjoying the warmer weather too, I really love this time of year as the dogs are so easy to take care of, as long as they have been for a long walk in the morning they will happily bask in the sun all day.

kasisi's puppies

2007-04-17T19:23:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 17th April

Our puppies started to leave us this weekend, the good news is that Kinta, formerly known as Macbeth, lives just half an hour away from us so we will be able to visit him regularly. He now lives on a 72 acre Koi Carp farm.

Hermione and Puck moved to Long Island and Brooklyn ,although Hermione will be spending the summer on a salmon farm in Alaska (lucky Hermione)

Today we drove to Lenox MA with Portia to meet up with Joanna and Ron, she will be joining her sister Kallie from Kasidi and Brewsters first litter.

On Thursday, Romeo will be heading off to Memphis where he will join his new family and no they will not be calling him Elvis, he will be called Max.

Already the puppies have become so easy now the numbers have gone down. Today they were able to play in deep snow as the temperature was pretty mild at around 40f, they now completely ignore me when I call them in a sign of their growing independance.

Kasidi's puppies

2007-04-14T12:09:00.000-07:00

Saturday 14th April

We performed the personality tests on the puppies this afternoon and I am not sure if we can truly interpret the results. They were carried out in our bedroom where they have never been and by Mark, my husband who they briefly met last night. The outcome was dominated by gender in that the girls were much more outgoing and sociable whereas the boys just lay on the floor and did not respond much at all. Parts of the test included putting up an umbrella suddenly, clashing saucepans, retrieving, putting the puppy on its belly etc and basically the boys just lay there with an expression on their face that said, whats all this about. I think the tests said more about this breed in that they are laid back and prone to laziness.

Years ago whilst at crufts the judge had about 38 Ridgebacks in one class to go over, so she divided the group into sub groups. The ridgebacks that had to wait soon got bored and collapsed on to the floor for a sleep. In contrast, the ring next door had Elk hounds and the noise that was coming from them was over whelming. They were very excitable and barking constantly not something a Ridgeback is noted for.

This thread for the blog will have to end soon as my puppies journey will end here and start over anew as they head off to their new homes. A sad time for us but a joyous one for their new owners.

Kasidi's puppies

2007-04-12T15:55:00.000-07:00

Thursday 12th April

In the end all ten puppies went to the vets today as my vet is going on holiday and they all got a clean bill of health. They had their first innoculation, were wormed and of course their medical. The weights were as follows:

Romeo 16.6lbs

Puck 18.2lbs

Portia 16.8lbs

Phebe 16.6lbs

Paris 17lbs

Macbeth 17lbs

Hermione 15.2lbs

Hamlet 15.6lbs

Caesar 17.6lbs

Ariel 18.2lbs

I took the puppies in two batches of five and was very impressed with how they managed the journey as my vet is 35mins drive from home.

I think I will just leave them to be quiet this evening as It has been quite a day for them.

Kasidi was anxious when she saw her babies being put into the car and was happy to have them returned to her.

Kasidi's puppies

2007-04-11T11:55:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 11th April

People always ask me "how can you part with the puppies" and I always reply, "there comes a time when It becomes impossible to give each individual puppy the attention they crave and deserve". That time is now. I simply cannot give them the one on one they need and because I know I have wonderful families for the puppies to go to It makes It a lot easier.

I have been busy with my animals today making sure they are stocked with food and water etc as we are to expect up tp 9 inches of snow tonight and tomorrow. Very depressing as I know this time last year It was hot but at least I pick up Mark on Friday (thats if his flight is not delayed)

Five pups go to the vets tomorrow for checks and jabs. I held out in the end as we do not vaccinate until 8 weeks back home and I figured there must be a reason for this. I tend to believe the vets advice is not always the best advice when It comes to vaccination. There are some very interesting studies out there that suggests we over vaccinate our pets which suits the drug industries and that auto immune problems can be attributed to over vaccinating. In this months AKC magazine I read about a trial thats about to start re the rabies vaccine. The aim is to hopefully show that the rabies vaccine can provide cover for up to 7 years. I have always believed blood should be taken to show serum antibody levels before re-vaccination. Anyway, more info about this trial can be found at www.rabieschallengefund.org

Kasidi's puppies

2007-04-07T13:26:00.000-07:00

Saturday April 7th

When my daughter Olivia was devising the system for the collars she worked It so a dog and a bitch wore the same colour colour, so It is always as follows;

Blue collar = Portia and Hamlet.

Red collar = Ariel and Puck.

Orange collar = Caesar and Phebe.

Green collar = Romeo and Hermione

Pink collar= Paris and Macbeth.

This afternoon we brought the puppies into the living room as we are going out tonight and I happened to mention to Olivia that I had noticed the puppies tend to hang out in pairs and It seems that the collars seem to determine who they hang out with. She was amazed by this statement as she too had noticed that Caesar can always be found with Phebe, Portia is often to be seen with Hamlet etc etc. We will make a point of closely watching them when they are out and about as It seems bizzare that this is the case. Even now I am looking down on them and Paris and Macbeth are running around together with one of my slippers in their mouth.

Even though It is quite cold at the moment the pups went out for a while this morning and some of them were digging up the few bulbs that have escaped the scratching from my chickens. It is incredible how they have so quickly become naughty little dogs. They are also discovering the word NO as they now have a habit of sinking their needle like teeth into my legs.

Kasidi's puppies

2007-04-06T13:27:00.000-07:00

Friday 6th April

I am pleased to say that Caesar is totally recovered and judging from the photographs we took today he seems to be benefiting from not having a bulging tummy. I am going to reduce the puppies intake to 3 meals a day.

Olivia and I took individual pictures of all of the pups today and it wasn't easy. Some just did not want to stand, some were arching their back so they looked hunched and some were doing the classic rocking horse pose, but hopefully they will be on the web by tomorrow. Warts and all !

We had just got into the routine of the puppies going outside after every meal and so begining a toileting regime when winter came back and now they sniff the cold and refuse to go out. They are very demanding and very hard work but rewarding none the less.

I checked the boys to make sure they had 2 descended testicles and that their bites were correct plus another check of ridges. All of the girls have correct bites too.

I can hear the puppies as I type, they must have just woken up, so another round of feed and clean is due.

The highlight of the day is still when they all come into the living room during the evening, they go crazy and will now run around and play for nearly 2 hours before they collapse in a heap and fall asleep.

Kasidi's puppies

2007-04-04T08:38:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 4th April

Caesar was a cause for concern yesterday.

Some of the puppies had diarroeah on Monday but appeared well in themselves so I changed their diet to rice, live yoghurt and cooked chicken for 24 hours and this seemed to halt it in its track. I have to admit to being very worried as I have been letting the puppies out in our garden and although they are mixing with my vaccinated dogs I have no idea what wild animals prowl around at night that could be carrying nasty viruses such as parvo.Also, the puppies had been licking old snow and I saw some of them drinking from a muddy puddle. Not very desirable but I also believe their systems have to be intrduced to such things to toughen them up. It is a close judgement call .

All seemed well yesterday, then yesterday evening I noticed that Caesar seemed quite lethargic and not his usual bouncy self. When I picked him up he seemed very hot and his temperature revealed a reading of 103.1. Although my entire nursing carreer was spent using centigrade I new this was hot.

The vets clinic was obviously closed and I suddenly became very worried so I went over in my head what I needed to do. I had amoxacillin tablets in my drawer which were 250mg stength so I quartered a tablet, crushed It and added a little water, so It could be sucked up into a syringe.
.I had surfed the net trying to find the correct dosage for puppies but had been unable to find anything. I figured that 60 something mgs would be ok so I gave the antibiotic to Caesar then rang the vets clinic to get the on call doctor.

I was put through to a very helpful on call vet who asked me if I happened to have some amoxyl in the house. I told her what I had done and she ok'd the dosage which I had given him which was a relief. She also recommended 1ml of pepto bismol which apart from having anti-diarroeal properties, also has a temperature reducing action. I then made up a solution of electrolyte solution which consisted of 1 teasoon of salt to 8 teaspoons of sugar in 1 litre of water and administered this to him via syringe.

I toyed with idea of keeping him with me that night but decided he would most probably prefer to be with his brothers and sisters.

I was quite anxious going into the puppies this morning but my first observation was plenty of pooh and no diarroeah. I gave them their food and milk and noticed that Caesar was enthusiastically joining in the feeding frenzy. I picked him up and his body temperature felt normal and he seemed more like his normal self.

Caesar reminded me of children when they are sick. They can deteriorate very quickly and bounce back even faster.

I will keep him on the antibiotics and the pepto for the time being but will ring my vet today to see what he recommends.

The weather is so foul I cannot find the words to describe it. My older dogs showed no enthusiasm for a long walk this morning, so I gave in and they had a quick run in the adjacent field.

I have to go to refuse centre this afternoon which is 20 miles away as I have run out of newspaper. Not the best of days to be going but needs must.

Kasidi's puppies

2007-04-02T10:11:00.000-07:00

Monday 2nd April

We had a blast of warm sunshine earlier and so I took advantage and let the puppies frolic outside and It was just perfect. What is lovely, is, Kasidi can enjoy her puppies without them making demands on her as they have finnaly come to realise the milk bar is closed.

Kasidi is really a big puppy herself sometimes and she has taken to playing with the puppies toys to the extent where she takes them away and keeps them for herslf. It is rewarding to see her with her pups, she had such a tough time with her first litter and for a while I intended not to breed from her again but this time everything has gone textbook perfect.

The one I have to watch is Angela the pot belly. I am very disappointed to say that on several occasions she has been very naughty and snapped at them, whereas Wilbur is a peach. He was fabulous with Lela last year as she was growing up, our original concerns soon evaporated as we watched them play together almost daily and they still have a good relationship now.

I will take advantage of the bursts of sunshine as our forcast is going to deteriorate and we are to expect snow showers by Thursday and temperatures in the mid 30s during the day. I cannot express in words politely how I feel about this as my body is crying out for serious heat. I'm sure we had decent weather this time last year.

As I put the rubbish out for collection this morning, six huge garden sacks were filled with soiled paper from the puppies. I am just relieved It is picked up with no questions asked as I would not like to face the prospect of burning it all.

I have registered the litter today and it took a total of 5 minutes online to complete. Why has it taken me so long to do it. It really was very simple.

My next task is to find official names for the puppies as I do like to use my afix with every puppy. I usually trawl African name websites and find meanings I feel are appropriate to each individual puppy.

Any suggestions are welcome though!

Kasidi's puppies

2007-04-01T12:23:00.000-07:00

Sunday 1st April

It was always going to be an impossible task to surpass Thursday's entry in terms of drama and then Saturday came and well, easy peezy springs to mind.

It started well with a delightful young couple called Nick and Jenna coming up from Brooklyn to see the puppies. It was a lovely sunny day and as planned, we went for a walk thru the woods with the dogs who I might add were impecably behaved and then we spent time with the puppies. Nick and Jenna left around 1 ish and I set about the feeding and clearing round. At about 2 pm I felt so tired that I decided to lie down on the bed (something I never do) and I did manage to get a little sleep. Iwoke up around 1.45, put the kettle on and looking out of the window I noticed a mist gathering in the valley below. A couple of minutes later the dogs alerted me to a car that had driven up the driveway. A young women with 3 young children beckoned me towards the car, she looked quite disressed and I immediaetly thought that something terrible had happened to her. She aked me If I knew that the field next to my house was on fire and was rapidly approaching my house. I looked at her as if she was speaking in a foriegn language, then It dawned on me that I had seen smoke and not mist. I put the dogs away before they were able to realise what was happening, meanwhile this total stranger had leaped out of her car and started to untangle the hosepipe which was attached to the house and started hosing down near the treeline to hopefully stop the fire from becoming within 10 feet of the house. I ran into the house to dial 911 and asked my daughter and her friend Claire to help outside. It was a pretty scary site, the field adjacent and below our house were very much burned out and towards the bottom of my drive behind a newly constucted fence was a huge dump of rubbish that was ablaze.

My next thought was my dear friend and neighbour Evelyn, an 87 year old lady who is very much house bound and was in direct line of the fire and owner of the fields that were ablaze.I jumped into the car and drove down to her house passing 2 fire engines on my way. I dicovered that she was ok and in fact had relatives visiting that day. It was odd, but because of the wind direction no smoke could be seen from her house. On my return up the hill the firemen tried to prevent me from going back to my house. I sort of flipped my lid and pointed out to them it was my house that had the fire racing up the tree line and I had to get back to my daughter and my animals.

When I dialled 911 the operator had asked that I evacuate the house and I certainly would have done if I thought any of us were in imminent danger but with 10 pups, 5 dogs, and 3 cats I really did not want to do this and as It happened It was not necessary.

In the end we had fire engines from 2 seperate departments and It took about 2 hours for the fires to be put out. It was very exciting and I have tremendous admiration for all of the volunteer firefighters who responded to the call even though I shouted at them when I saw that 2 engines were way down the road hosing water into the field where as the fire spreading through my treeline up to my house was left unchecked and waiting for engines from another department.

Once it was obvious the fire was under control I began to wonder how it could have possibly started. There was still a little snow left in places and we certainly were not experiencing hot weather and I don't think for one minute it was intentional.

We have recently had a problem with 4 wheelers trespassing on Evelyns land and I think they must have thrown a cigarette butt on to the ground and It started from there. Either way, I dread to think what would have happened if we had not intervened when we did and once again the puppies were oblivious to it all.

I promise my next entry will be about the puppies who are as adorable as ever.

Next, I have to start checking the boys for 2 testicles and checking bites on all of them.

I haven't even had time to go out and buy a well deserved bottle of wine so I have taken to drinking the sherry Olivia bought me for christmas which is very nice. I wouldn't want to her to think I am drinking it as a last resort.

Kasidi's puppies

2007-03-29T19:01:00.000-07:00

Thursday 29th March

I am going to digress from the puppies today as I want to record the series of events that I am sure, in time, will make me smile, but not today.

It started with me trying to persuade my pot bellied pig Angela to move into the paddock as her rooting was making the garden even more untidy. She has hung out with chickens all winter and is free to go wherever she chooses, so It was always going to be a tall order. Behind the electric fence is around 10 acres of pasture with access to the barn and this is where my 3 cows and Wilbur a small black pig who we rescued last year live. Wilbur is a huge character who we love dearly and he and Angela tolerate each other pretty well when they are together. As I was tempting Angela thru the gate a UPS van came up the driveway which arracted the attention of the dogs so I left what I was doing to call the dogs. Then I heard the phone ring , so I answered that and then a couple of hours later as I am on the phone to my friend Linda, something in the corner of my eye forces me to turn round and I see Lela chasing my 3 cows around the house.They were literally doing a circuit going round and round and round tearing my bewildered garden up as they went. I immediately ran into the garage and put some corn into bucket and set about the job of trying to catch the cows. Well, they were having so much fun It was obvious the corn was not going to tempt them. They ran up the side of the field and disappeared into the woods and before I could blink they were back out again and sprinting back towards the chicken shed. To say they moved like grease lightening is an undersatement,boy could they move and Of course my fear was that they would eventually find their way to the road. They seemed to be relishing being free, enjoying noseying around the places they can only see from their pasture. One even popped her head into the mudroom .

I was eventually able to coax the black one (Josie) thru the gates and about 20 minutes later had the other 2 safely back in the paddock.

Meanwhile, Wilbur looks very busy behind my car which I had cleaned out a couple of hours earlier. I had lifted some sacks of dogfood out and left them by them car. He had managed to rip the bag open and was happily tucking into the contents which were, by now ,scattered all over the driveway. So I cleaned that up and then went into the house for a well desreved cup of tea.

I am also a falconer and in the new year I was lucky enough to receive a captured young Redtail who I called Syracuse. Just before the bad weather set in Syracuse, who was slow in his training to begin with was flying and hunting independantly. The recent bad weather had prevented me from going out with him. This week I have been in the progress of training him once more, reducing his weight and preparing him for free flight .

During training sessions I attach him to a line called a creance and as he was doing so well I was intending this session to be the last one on the line.

I was flying him from the fence when all of a sudden he decided to fly to the trees and that is when disaster struck. I had the line longer than It needed to be and he got caught in the trees , he then decided to fly higher up the tree and the line got even more tangled and I knew That I was going to have to climb the tree to release him, but this was easier said than done. My tree climbing days were Long gone and when I got halfway up to him on very thin branches I realised I was putting myself in real danger. I decided to go and fetch the ladders from the barn and a pair of scizzors from the house to cut the line, all the time worrying that I had put my bird in real peril. I tried the ladders but they only reached a third to where I needed to be. Meanwhile, Wilbur decided to investigate what was happeing and true to form he started to get frisky and started humping my leg. He was very persistant and I could not get him to clear off. He also started to writhe and rub his body against the ladders while I was going up them. Not very calming, I can assure you.

In desperation I ran to the house and rang my son Alex who was in town with his friends. Fortunately I was able to get hold of him and he arrived about 15 minutes later.

Syracuse was flapping his wings and getting even more distressed and I was just beside myself but I knew I had to stay calm. Alex climbed the tree much more ably than me and in time, was able to cut the line and secure him by his jesses.

I went up the ladder as far as It would let me go and managed to get Syracuse from Alex. He was stressed but quickly calmed down and in no time I had him sitting on the glove. . I think he realised the danger was over. They say Redtails are unforgiving and It is the falconer who will suffer by his own mistakes. I hope this not the case with Syracuse and me, but only time will tell. He will be released in the spring once the hunting season is over and I just hope he will overlook my mistake today as I am looking forward to working and hunting with him over the next month or so. He took his food readily from the glove and seemed content when I returned him to his weathering.

I eventually managed to get Wilbur behind the fence and will try with Angela again tomorrow.

A casualty of the cows getting out was one of my chickens, who I found dead in the grass.

Fortunately, the puppies were safely in the utility room and I think they slept thru the whole drama and a drama is what this afternoon was.

Kasidi's puppies

2007-03-28T10:43:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 28th March

My memory is not too great these day,s but I am sure, with previous litters, lots of food has been wasted, especially in the ealy days when the pups are learning to lap and use their baby teeth. Not so with this litter. I can honestly say that right from the word go, these puppies have eaten everything put in front of them. The amount of pooh they are producing and the fact they are all rather rotund makes me think I should cut back a little on their intake.

They were introduced to the chickens today. It is a cold but beautiful sunny day and perfect for them to discover a little of the big world outside. The chickens, who are normally very chilled with the dogs got their feathers ruffled and soon disappeared from their favourite sun spot outside of the utility room door. On the other hand the puppies were greatly entertained by seeing the effect their chasing had on the chickens and had great fun. I did not intervene as I knew the chickens could look after themselves.

I managed a long walk with the dogs today and noticed that Kasidi has lost some of the muscle in her back legs, bless her, It will not take long to build her back up as long energetic walks are a daly occurence in this house.

I took some lovely photos which hopefully will find their way to my website tomorrow.

We still bring the puppies into the living room with us at night and although It is messy It brings enormous rewards as they are joy to watch and relish being part of the family. They have started crying again at night and I am convinced It is because they realise there is another world beyond the utility room and they want to belong in It. 3am was the time they woke me this morning and when I checked in on them It was clear there was nothing wrong, they just wanted out of there.

I must register the litter with the kennel club today. I am terrible at organising myself when It comes to paperwork. I will find any number of things to do other than the job at hand.

Kasidi's puppies

2007-03-25T12:51:00.000-07:00

Sunday 25th March

On my walk throught the woods this morning, Lela disappeared for a while, as this is quite normal for all of the dogs, I was not unduly concerned. Then, in the distance, I noticed her coming towards me with something dangling from her mouth. At first I thought It was a stick, then I noticed It was moving in a strange way. As she approached I realised that she had the foreleg of a deer in her mouth and mighty proud she was too. I decided to abandon the walk as I did not want to come accross a dead deer in the path.

As the other dogs approached, they went to great effort to steal her prized possession and for some time she ran them ragged as they chased after her. Eventually, her dad, Brewster managed to steal It from her and to my knowlege he devoured the whole leg. Now I have to watch out to see if he is able to digest It, but somehow I think he will be ok.

The puppies are too adorable but I learned a lesson on Friday. When I went into them on Friday morning, six of them were minus their collars. Normally, I would be fairly confident at identifying them at this stage of their little lives but the collars have clearly made me lazy as I have to admit that I really struggled to work out who was who. I re-newed them to the best of my ability and had to rely on Olivia, my daughter,coming home from school later that day to see If I had got It right. I didn't do too bad, getting Macbeth and Puck mixed up.

I have asked Mark If he can alter the blog so discussion can take place openly. At the moment all comments can only be seen by me and this seems to defeat the obect of having a blog. It would have been very useful to have been able to discuss the dog food re-call and maybe discuss the pro's and cons of the BARF diet. So fingers crossed, we will have to wait and see what he comes up with as this, is, after all, new to us both.

I was reminded by a local farmer the other day that there are infact five seasons in Upstate New York. Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and the mud season and boy, are we in the mud season. On top of all of the melting snow, we are having to put up with rain as well. I do wonder(only sometimes) why we chose New York and not somwhere nice and dry like Arizona.

We are going to take new pictures of the puppies now but might have to wait until DSL arrives tomorrow before we can use them.

Hi Rosie. I've changed some things for the blog

Kasidi's puppies

2007-03-22T14:55:00.000-07:00

Thursday 22nd March

I think we are all very concerned by the recall of dog food that we expect to be safe for our dogs. I tend to be very practical in my thinking at times such as these, but having a litter of puppies and seeing the names of brands that I use, in the recall list,made me very cautious and I made enquiries at the store where I purchase my dogfood..

I am using Hills Science diet (dry) as the mainstay of my puppies diet, but to that I add raw mince beef/turkey and canned puppy chicken on occasions and of course It is the tins/pouches that are suspect. My research indicates that I have nothing to worry about but thats not to say I am not worrying. What is annoying, is to discover that all of these premium dog foods come out of the same factory and that the recipes are basically the same. I feel I have been taken in by successful marketing campaigns believing that more expensive foods are better. Now I am not so sure. More disturbing though, is the company that manufactures these products still do not know the cause of the problem.

The puppies are currently running a riot in my living room while Brewster and Raiza have run for cover and are are up stairs with me as I type.

They continue to grow and change almost daily and Kasidi is in control of how much she wants them to suckle. She allows them to take off the pressure of her bulging teats and thats about It.

We got news yesterday that we are at long last getting DSL so with a bit of luck, up loading pictures of the puppies will be easier. We are experiencing problems with photos at the moment so apologies for not up dating the website.

Hopefully the snow will soon be gone and the ground dry enough for the puppies to venture outside and I can get back into the routine of walking my dogs through the woods.

Kasidi's puppies

2007-03-19T12:01:00.000-07:00

Monday 19th March

Call me an old softie but we made a creche like enclosure in the living room this afternoon as I dont like the puppies being in the utility room. This way, they can be with us during the day and sleep in the utility room at night.

Its incredible to think that in 4 weeks time they will be settled in their new homes, so we must enjoy them while we can.

They have started playing with their toys, tug of war being their favourite pastime and biting each others ears until they get a response ie a loud scream of pain.

They still sleep a lot which is a blessing as they are like tornados when they are awake and I do know that the last 3 weeks are the hardest in terms of hard work, this is the lull before the storm.

Kasidi's puppies

2007-03-18T08:02:00.000-07:00

Sunday 18th March

When we are not with the puppies I switch the radio on so they do not feel alone, this morning they are listening to the rock channel, and the newspapers that they are currently weeing on are The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. I wonder if this will have any bearing on their intelligence lol. My daughter thinks I am so hip as I use the computer lingo.

I am very annoyed today as we are now back to around a foot of snow outside and It is snowing as I type.It aslso makes hard work of caring for our other animals especially getting water to the cows as our outside water tap has a leak and had to be switched off some time ago.

The puppies are much more aware of their surroundings now and will wake up the moment we enter their room. They are pretty much eating 3 meals a day,plus milk and at least one drink from Kasidi.

We are having problems with our internet connection, we have one of those silly dishes and although we can send mail it is taking forever to upload photographs so apologies to everyone who I promised recent pics of the girls.

I will be consulting my technical expert in the UK when he gets off of the phone.